IN ALL my comings and goings to and from Northfields Tube station I had never really noticed this restaurant, which is strange considering the large neon sign outside it. But I was glad my friend had, even more so when we turned up and realised we had stumbled across happy hour.
The special offer meant we could order two plates of tapas along with bread for £7 and a glass of house wine for just £1.80, which sounded like a good deal to me.
Considering its price the wine wasn't at all bad and we set about scanning the happy hour menu.
There was a good range of dishes, 27 in total, and we chose six between the three of us to share.
My favourites were the peppers stuffed with beef in tomato sauce, which had a lot of flavour and the different textures went very well together. The chicken croquettes, which were crispy on the outside but almost creamy in the middle, were complemented perfectly by a sort of garlic mayonnaise, and the chorizo in wine had a good spicy kick and was moistened by the tasty sauce.
The calamari was a little chewy, but you expect that with squid, and the tomato and garlic sauce it came in was good, the bean casserole with pork and chorizo was hearty and had a pleasing variety of textures and flavours.
The Spanish omelette was a little disappointing. It was a little dry but worked well if you mixed it in with sauces from the other dishes.
After we had devoured most of it, the crusty bread came in handy to mop up some of the delicious sauces.
So far so good, but then came the desserts. I chose a passion fruit cake and my two friends both went for lemon tarts.
Mine was a little stodgy yet had a reasonable flavour. My friends reported the tarts were also a bit heavy but without much taste to make up for it. The total for the desserts was £8.85.
I liked the atmosphere of the restaurant. It was very basic with wood panelling along the bottom of the walls which gave the air of sitting in someone's retro dining room.
And my friend who has recently visited Portugal said the tapas was very authentic.
Overall, it was a good meal and I think I'll be back - and I won't fail to miss that neon sign this time.
