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This tapas-serving café offers a simple but well-chosen and very well-executed menu of both Spanish classics and innovative Thai dishes. The short hours must have something to do with the oft-quiet location, on a normally sleepy hill in Charlton; but just round the corner is the foodball stadium, so it's a different scene on match days, when the compact eating space quickly gets filled up. Try standards such as calamares a la romana and gambas ajillo, or plump for more unusual regional dishes like papas mojó picón (potatoes dressed with a sauce of cumin and chilli) or a plate of idiazabal, a terrific smoked sheep's cheese from the Basque country. As well as draught San Miguel there are also great fresh coffee. With prices that come in at around £3 or less for most savoury dishes, you can stuff yourself here on quality food for next to nothing.
Time Out Cheap Eats in London Guide 2007
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The restaurant has changed its perspective slightly, its still one of the best locally - its still a quaility tapas cafe bar but its now has a thai/spanish tapas theme to the food offered and to reflect this has changed its name to Cattlata at Chu and Chos, the food is still very good and reasonably priced. They run a free and popular Sunday night music venue from 8pm onwards featuring an acoustic trio: the quaintly named (but excellent) Los Dawsons. It best to book and when Charlton has home games it is rammed..
We were really looking forward to trying out this local restaurant and, at first, things looked promising - fairylights strung up in the corner, neat tables and posters for live music on a Sunday. But then the food came. The patatas fritas were crispy on the outside, full of grease on the inside and came with bland sauces/seasoning; garlic prawns were hard, tasteless and totally overpriced (£6 for 8); and the few pieces of limp roasted peppers tasted like they'd just been scooped out of an old jar. Fruit 'smoothies' were somewhat over-frothy but fresh and tasted ok, as did the thin pieces of chorizo and inoffensive but not very inspiring bruchetta. The Thai salad never came (we decided it wasn't worth chasing up). We left feeling unhealthy and bloated from the grease - despite the small portions. Maybe the Thai food is great or the atmosphere buzzing on a sunday evening, but I won't be going to find out.
After reading the general overview of this restaurant on Timeout, we really thought we would find a gem of a place with great authentic food, but unfortunately we felt that the tapas served up, whilst tasty, were fresh out of Iceland's frozen food. The quality of tapas reminded us of the kind of food you might get in chain bars like Wetherspoons. The Thai on the other hand was nothing special at all. The service was friendly and welcoming but the ambiance was non extistent with a bland, typically modern non descript, interior with no music and bright lighting. Unfortunately, in our experience this place is a Spanish /Thai version of something like Bella Pasta which if you like, you will love this place.
Chu Cho is fab. Food is delicious, its value for money and the staff are very attentive in an informal way.
We have been twice now - adults only. Although the restaurant is suitable to take children too!!
You must try it.