2 Abingdon Road
W8 6AF
Tel: 0871 223 9658
Date of Last Visit: Friday, July 29, 2006
The Victim: Kristi
The Damage: 35 quid each
The Setup: K and I hadn’t seen each other in ages. Or so it felt like. A was sick (or ill as they say here), so it was a girls’ night out. I was hoping to check out The Ambassador in Exmouth Market, but K has this thing about smoke, so that was off the list. (I will quote her as close to directly as possible–"Having a no smoking section in a restaurant is like having a no peeing section in a pool.") As it turns out, L does allow smoking, just upstairs at four small tables. So hopefully K is still feeling guilty about depriving me of The Ambassador. All that being said, she remains redeemed. L was a very fine choice.
The Starters: Well, we went with the tapas menu, so there were no starters per se. But there was fantastic walnut and raisin bread. That was very nice. And rosemary and something-or-other bread. Yummy. But before I get into the food, let me just focus on the drink: for those of you that know me, you know I do not enjoy hard liquor. Vodka tonic? YUKKK. Gin and tonic? Double YUK. Rum and Coke? Gag! The only two mixed drinks I will really ever drink are margaritas (it’s the salt) and white russians (it’s the milk). So when K persuaded me to try the 3.50 mojito (yes, let me write that again–3.50!!!!!), I was tentative. But ultimately, I appreciate a good value, so the Mojito it was.
The Drink: Yes, let me call it "The Drink." Because it was, is, and forever will be "The Drink." Mojitos are not so good at the very beginning. They are minty, but not pepperminty. They are limey, but not really-good-limey. And they are not so sugar-y, even though there is supposedly sugar in there somewhere. But stir and stir and stir and man do you have a nice drink. And for 3.50? Is this the cheapest high quality mixed drink in London, or is it me? I will return for the mojitos alone! (Feathers, are you reading this? Our next girls’ night will be here.)
The Food: As always, I digress. K and I ordered a plate of Iberian ham, which was much more ham-y than its Italian counterpart. It was thick, meaty, and smokey and tough to chew. It’s not that I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t my absolute best thing ever. The tortilla was the highlight–eggs, potatoes and basil all cooked up nice and hot and delicious. We had some bread with tomatoes–bruchetta-like, but not called bruchetta, and that was nice. And then we had this cucumber/radish/anchovy/cheese thing, and although that sounds pretty random, it was actually kinda nice. And the most interesting thing of all was the special of the day–cod and olives and oranges and red peppers. It wasn’t super-delicious, but I actually mean that in a good way; it was super-interesting. As my old roommates from college would say, "Interesting. Very complex."
The Loos: Very sparkly tile work. Clean. Nothing exciting.
The Service: Too efficient! Let me be, please! As soon as I had drank a tablespoon of water, they were refilling my glass.
The Verdict: I would go back here. Particularly for the 3.50 mojitos. Fantastic.
