Fino

Wednesday 19 September

Andi was taking us out to Spamalot, and also to one of our favorite London restaurants, Fino. As we've said before, London is addicted to tapas, and this is one of its best and purest examples of the genre - so much so that its proprietors, Sam and Eddie Hart, have put out a cookbook for it entitled Modern Spanish Cooking, and we have actually bought it.

Fino is a very elegant and quiet restaurant, just off Charlotte Street. The service is attentive but not snotty, and it's very fashionable without being too tense about it. We started with a bottle of white Rioja wine, and some olives, pimentos de padron, and pan con tomate, while we waited for Andi (who had unfortunately missed her way while heading out of the National Gallery). When she arrived and got to relax with a glass of wine, we broadened our range with plates of crisp fried squid and pulpo a la gallega - we adore Fino's way of making tender octopus with a sprinkling of Spanish smoked paprika, pimenton de la Vera. We then went on to have clams with sherry and ham (which was a touch too salty), milk-fed lamb cutlets (perfectly simple, not messing with great ingredients), and a dish of chickpeas, chorizo, and spinach - peasant food, really, and just great because of it.

Finally, another dish of pulpo for dessert, because we cannot say "enough" to Fino's octopus. If you want to know their secret, they buy frozen octopus from Galicia, choosing the ones with parallel rows of suckers along their tentacles, which are supposed to be tenderer. They cook the whole thawed octopus in salt water with a bay leaf and a clove-studded onion for 45 minutes until tender but firm enough to resist when prodded with a skewer (what octopus wouldn't?). Then they slice up the tentacles into quarter-inch thick rounds and cook them slowly in good heated olive oil for about five minutes. They're served in some of their oil, with some paprika and parsley over them, and believe me, they couldn't be better. We'll be trying this at home.

And yes, Spamalot was great - though spam isn't.