Restaurants

Romantic Columbia Road makes a perfect home for this diminutive but charming tapas restaurant. A welcoming decor of burnt orange walls, ornamental tiling, and unusually tasteful artwork has earned Laxeiro a loyal following among locals. It’s a winning formula that the owners are rightly reluctant to mess with, so little changes here from one year to the next. That includes the menu; though chalked up on a blackboard, suggesting flux, it rarely alters. Occasionally, such an unseasonal approach (meaning everything has to be in stock all the time) throws up a lacklustre dish. On a recent visit, octopus in paprika was rather bland and a bit chewy. Yet this was the anomaly in an accomplished selection that included tender, fleshy cuts of cochinillo (suckling pig) with crackling, some above-average patatas bravas, rich and gooey salt-cod croquettes, and a carefully cooked slab of calf’s liver in a sherry and onion gravy. Food is supplemented by a good, sub-£30 all-Spanish wine list.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008