Dehesa - Sept 2010

Where: Dehesa, Ganton Street

With who: The Californian Kid
How much: Tapas between £4 and £7 each. We spent £30 a head including a bottle of wine.

In the mould of other modern tapas joints such as Barrafina, Salt Yard and Brindesa, Dehesa strives for quality rather than authenticity. No sombreros or Spanish guitar here and it's so much the better for it. Cramped but comfortable, with hams hanging and a central bar dividing the two halves of the low lit bar. Three semi-circular banquettes underneath the large windows are ideal if there are 3 or (skinny types only) 4 of you, if there are more I'd recommend booking the cozy private room in the basement, if there are 1 or 2 of you then you're encouraged to share the communal table or take a seat at the bar. It's a bright and loud well heeled  Soho crowd and the room chatters with conversation.

It's a regularly changing seasonal menu, that usually consists of 15 or so items, split equally between meat, fish and vegetables plus a healthy selection of charcuterie and cheeses. Despite the lumps of air dried meat hanging in the window, you wouldn't have a problem bringing vegetarians here. There are more than enough decent dishes, including lightly fried courgette flowers stuffed with Monte Enebro goat's cheese and drizzled with honey. I had these in their sister restaurant Salt Yard a few years ago and they're exceptional. The two filthy carnivores were also tempted by a silken squash ravioli, parcels of al dente sun yellow pasta served in a borlotti bean, speck and marjoram sauce. 

We'd had our appetites whet with a chewy toasted sourdough bread that came with a Spanish charcuterie selection including a so-so paprika edged lomo and an excellent nutty Salchichon salami. You can, and probably should, spend at least one meal sat near their meat bar, taking wooden platter after wooden platter of the ham on the bone. 

We also went for an chunky hunk of grilled sea bream set off perfectly with its salty stew of mushrooms and samphire and finished with a confit of (slightly dry, the only missed note) rabbit wrapped in parma ham served with a salsa verde. 

Dehesa works on so many levels, but principally because they care about their ingredients and cook them, in the main, very well. Service and atmosphere are laidback and friendly and the pricing almost no different to La Tasca. You've got no excuse for ever going to an 'authentic' tapas bar again...