This week I'm a bit confused...after the great last week dinner at TOZI, last night I had dinner in a Italian/Spanish tapas bar, OPERA TAVERN, in Covent Garden...I had to say I already had a dinner in this restaurant last year, and it was an amazing experience, the meat was fantastic, the Presa Iberica excellent, the Pigeon, oh my gosh great, wine, desert everything was fantastic...but, this time I can't say the same, last night I went for the fish, so that I could have better understanding of the food, but I was disappointed, the food is not bad but I had such a high expectation...
We didn't have a reservation and we were lucky enough to find two seats at the bar,which it was fine for me, actually I really like seat at the bar...
I have to say the service was very good, we were served by a spanish and a south african guy, both very nice.
Let's go down to the food...cos at the end this is what is all about....
We decided to eat fish so I picked two white wines, one glass of italian Blanc de Morgeax, Rayon (Priè Blanc, Valle d'Aosta) 2012, and one glass of the spanish Villa Narcisa (Verdejo Rueda) 2013, both very good even if slightly different, I have to say the spanish wine was a bit better then the italian.
Even if we opted for the fish we decided to start with the hamon croquettas, good but not delicious, when I think at the hamon croquettes, I think at the Barrafina (tapas bar in Soho) ones, best croquettes in Town, don't worry very soon I'll be talking about Barrafina...is one of the best tapas bar in London; anyway...as I said good but not superb...here is the pic
then we ordered a grilled lemon squid, which I have to say it wasn't what I expected, it tasted like grill, and u would say, "obviously it was grilled", I know, but it seems to be at a sunday afternoon barbecue with my friends instead of being in a nice restaurant in central London, anyway I didn't like it at all, it was a bit chewy, and again grilled calamari, not thanks, I'm not in a barbecue mood...
then we chose one of every fish tapas on the menu, which includes, salt cod croquettes, pan seared scallops, chargrill octopus (again grilled), grilled tune (again) pan fried hake, pan roasted sea bass...
this is the exact order;
Pan seared scallops with butternut squash purée and iberico manteca, well again it didn't impressed me at all, it wasn't bad or anything like that, but it didn't have that "x factor", and for "x factor" I mean it wasn't like "woooow" I was like "mmmm...that's it?!"...anyway scallops failed...
then we had the octopus with chickpea fritter, red pepper and mojo verde, and here it comes again the grill...noooo! The octopus like the calamari tasted like grill...and when I think at the spanish octopus dish I imagine "AGAIN" the octopus of BARRAFINA, I can't wait to write about this amazing tapas bar in Soho...but not yet....now let's go back at Opera Tavern...anyway the octopus like all the other dishes wasn't bad but just it wasn't anything special...so octopus quite failed...I'ven't been impressed by anything yet, apart the wine which was very good!
I almost forgot, the chickpeas Fritter, it just doesn't make any sense to me and to my palate!
Then we had tuna, again grilled but I couldn't really taste the grill but something else really concerned me...the tuna was cold...I'm like? How can it be cold if it was cooked just few minutes before been served...as matter of fact it wasn't, I soon found out, after asking one of the waiters that it was meant to be a tuna salad, I was very disappointed that I didn't finish the food...again it wasn't bad but I wanted something more and different then just a salad...
Then it comes the salt cod croquettes with saffron aioli, not bad but again nothing special, and they look almost like the ham croquettes, but we already knew it, because the waiter told us in advance, the saffron aioli sauce instead was fantastic...
The last two dishes pan fried salted hake and pan roasted wild roasted sea bass...the presentation was almost similar, and obviosly they tested different but the result was pretty much the same...avarage food which didn't impresse me at all!
Here it comes the desert which it was a bit of a consolation...just half the way...cos we had a delicious Dulche de leche panna cotta with chestnut crumble and yoghurt sorbet, with a glass of an amazing Moscato Rosa, and then a chocolate truffles with pistachio biscuits, which was just cookies on a plate, not impressed!
Then it came the bill, and I was impressed to realize we had a big discount, didn't really understand why, but it was appreciated!
So will I come back?! Not sure, maybe I will give a third try, but not sure...can u see, I'm still confused!
OPERA TAVERN is an italian and Spanish tapas bar, but apart from the wine I have to say there's no much of italian food in there...and for the Spanish food?! Well I can say I loved the meat and didn't like the fish!
Adios/Ciao Opera tavern!
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