Thursday 2 August 2012

La Bodegra Negra

La Bodegra Negra is almost too cool for its own good - with an entrance hidden behind a sex shop facade, and a dimly-lit basement dining area, I was concerned that the food may fail to live up to the gimmicks (especially given the depressing abundance of terrible Mexican restaurants in London).


Yes, this is the entrance...

However, I was pleasantly surprised - our meal here, 8 of us seated (somewhat squished) in a cave-like recess in the wall, was fantastic. We asked the waitress to bring a selection of all their best food, to share (often the best way to sample the best elements of a menu), and over the course of the night she served up a seemingly never-ending stream of delicious dishes: corn on the cob, smothered with rich, buttery crema Mexicana; crisp sesame tostadas with creamy guacamole; excellent soft-shell tacos (prawn and seared steak - mmmm) presented in a stylish wooden taco rack*; a mouth-watering dish of slow-cooked lamb (moist and incredibly meaty, flaking from the bone); wood-grilled sea bass; a refreshing scallop and mango ceviche....



Our cosy 'cubby hole', complete with mirror-mosaiced ceiling

There were other dishes too, but I can't remember all of them (along with the ample helpings of food, we were kept well supplied with wine and margaritas, which could go some way to explaining my forgetfulness). Which means I'll have to go back - perhaps this time to the street level cafe - in order to report back properly. And also to take some pictures (in the dark of the cellar, none turned out very well...and I won't embarrass myself - or do La Bodegra Negra the diservice - of including my sad attempt at food photography in this post).


*What, you don't have a taco rack at home?!

Square MealLa Bodega Negra on Urbanspoon