Dehesa

Seek out the top restaurants in cities such as Sydney, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires or Cape Town – the cosmopolitan capitals of the New World – and you will enjoy cooking that mixes together elements of disparate culinary traditions with gay abandon. Many food writers are fond of the word 'fusion' to describe these mixed-up cuisines. It's a lazy, catch-all term which carries more than a hint of dismissiveness, reflecting a certain Old World scepticism towards the rule-breaking which these newer cuisines espouse as a first principle. So, we like to go to a Spanish restaurant. We like to go to an Italian restaurant. But a Spanish-and-Italian restaurant? Sounds less convincing, doesn't it?

Salt Yard, which opened on Goodge Street in 2004, is exactly that: a restaurant that marries Spanish and Italian cooking, and does so brilliantly. I’ve eaten there dozens of times and rarely ordered a dish that didn’t actively impress, let alone an actual dud. And it’s popular. But I think its success is, to an extent, in spite of its culinary originality rather than purely because of it. Its central location, and a venue that’s romantic, relaxed and sophisticated, make it easy to recommend; yet I’ve sometimes tried to explain its culinary approach and drawn blank expressions.

I think this is why Salt Yard often fails to get mentioned in the same breath as other Spanish stalwarts such as Fino, Barrafina and Moro, even though its kitchen is comfortably in their league. Personally I think it’s better than – and certainly better-value than – the wildly popular Barrafina. So I was, of course, excited to learn that the owners, Sanja Morris and Simon Mullins, were opening a second restaurant in Soho.

Dehesa is, in truth, their response to Barrafina, which was likewise designed to replicate the excellent cooking of its Fitzrovia big sister (Fino) in a less formal setting. As at Barrafina, lots of the seating is on high stools, around chest-height tables, although the best tables are the two lower, circular ones recessed into the bay windows. There's more space than at Barrafina, but remember, reservations aren't taken.

The menu is the same eclectic ensemble of Spanish and Italian tapas you get at Salt Yard. It will change frequently and seasonally, although it looks like the Salt Yard signature dishes (confit pork belly with rosemary-scented cannellini beans, and deep-fried courgette flowers stuffed with Monte Enebro cheese) will also be mainstays here.

I know these dishes well, so tried some other things this time, such as duck breast cooked a la plancha with mustard fruits; mackerel also a la plancha with a quince, apple and pear aioli; polenta cakes with gorgonzola; chargrilled chicken with potato and green tapenade. The key to success with these simple recipes is the quality of the ingredients; here they were universally first-rate, everything deliciously fresh.

The wine list is on a par with the food: a connoisseur's choice of Spanish and Italian bottles, including eight sherries in various styles, and a crop of 'fine and rare wines' (£125-£400 a bottle).

'Dehesa' is a Spanish word which can be translated ‘meadow’, but there’s more to it than that, as it refers specifically to the forests where the pigs which become Spain’s famous hams are free to roam. Appropriately (both because of the name, and because it’s so delicious), a big deal is being made of charcuterie here, with a special counter reserved for the slicing of meats.

If you’re yet to develop a taste for the Spanish pleasure of a plate of ham with a glass of sherry, this is a good place to start. The sumptuous boards of meat are served plain and unadulterated – and quite right, too. Some rules just shouldn't be broken.
Andrew Staffell

Time Out London Issue 1954: January 30-February 5 2008

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Latest user reviews

Service was pretty good, though we had to wait for quite a while (45 mins) for a table where 3 of us were squashed into a table for 2. We tried almost everyhting on the menu, fromt he stuffed corguette flowers to the pork belly, to the iberico ham. I have to say that whilst the menu was... [More]
Anonymous  Mar 7 2008