Restaurants

Forget earthenware crockery and colourful tiles: there’s nothing old-fashioned about Lola Rojo. The two-room space is modern and bright (white and scarlet, with monochrome patterned wallpaper); the staff (all Spanish) are young and upbeat; and the food is contemporary and inventive. The menu – in English – is divided into different tapas: hot, cold, meat, fish, cured meats, paellas and rices. There’s even an ‘entertainment’ section, including manchego ‘lolly pops’: crisp discs of melted cheese on a stick. Almost all the dozen dishes we tried were excellent. Ingredients are top-quality: witness the cécina (dried cured beef from Leon) and the mojama (paper-thin slices of smoked dried tuna). Black rice was vibrantly flavoured, with chunks of squid and a big dollop of allioli – you’d be pushed to find better in Spain. Ditto the confit of suckling pig with vanilla apple purée. Only the ‘brava potato’ was a bit insipid; a clever take on patatas bravas, with hollowed-out roast spuds containing a foamy tomato sauce, but we’d have preferred the more rough-and-ready original. The nueva cocina approach is most evident in the desserts: mango ice-cream sat in a bowl of white chocolate ‘soup’, with a smear of thyme-flavoured toffee. The all-Spanish wine list is an eclectic treat, including the much-heralded Petalos del Bierzo (£21.50).

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008