Fitzrovia, Spanish Restaurant Guide

“Decent tapas for the price” – with “all the usual suspects (patatas bravas, padron peppers, tortilla, croquettas)” – win praise for this Hispanic quartet, now well into their second decade. These days the cooking is reckoned “competent”, if “not up to the earlier standards” – perhaps a reflection of improved competition. Top Menu Tip – “it’s worth checking out the vegetable dishes” (“with some left-field options for the adventurous; the beetroot with coffee was great!”)

“A joy!” – paella cooked over a wood fire in the Valencian style, “so drier than some you may have had before” – is the headline attraction at this London outpost from superstar Spanish chef Quique Dacosta. But “sublime starters – beef cheeks, Atlantic squid and pork jowl” also really hit the spot on an “unexpected” menu. The location just off Oxford Street does little to attract custom, although it is a “good place to host in the private dining room”.

“Heavenly seafood” adds to the appeal of this “cosy restaurant” in Soho serving “lovely tapas” (with an emphasis on fish). It’s the third venue specialising in Scottish seafood presented Spanish-style (after Bar Esteban in Crouch End and Escosesa in Stoke Newington) from Glasgow-born Stephen Lironi, who switched careers after starting out as a musician in Scottish post-punk band Altered Images, alongside his wife Clare Grogan.