Casa Brindisa

Went on Saturday at lunch, in spite of the poor review below. The place was empty! Bad sign, we thought. Prices did look very hefty, maybe this is why. The food, was, well, very heavy and greasy I am afraid. The croquetas are basically deep fried floury paste with bits of ham, and while we only ordered one portion, it remained with us all afternoon and evening and beyond. There were few veggies and salads, true.

The cold meats platter was very expensive for very few slices. Don't know if it costs this much in Spain, but would have expected it to be less than this. Also found the meats had a lot of fatty bits as they were not very lean. The black pudding (morcilla) was nice, but nothing special. There is a lot of sauce/oil with everything so it was difficult to determine if the ingredients were any good. Few fish choices. Wine list is Spanish, and you may be better off with the whites. There is a shop/deli attached,and maybe what they can't sell there ends up in the restaurant? just a thought.
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M.R.Moss
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Monday, November 24, 2008

The place was fairly full with a good contingent of spanish speakers. This is part of a growing chain of eateries that have sprouted from a spanish food wholesaler.

In Spain, the food is frankly not that interesting. Freshly caught fish, simply grilled and a squeeze of lemon, is great in the summer at a coastal resort. The rest of the food is heavy, greasy, deep-fried, with not a vegetable or salad in sight. And the desserts are equally nondescript. They obviously can't do the fresh-fish-simply-grilled-squeeze of lemon thing in London. Thus we are left with the heavy, deep-fried, no vegetable, no salad, greasy stuff. Does anyone really like a sausage that when grilled and cut down the middle, leaks reddish tinged grease? This was the Chorizo. And the deep-fried potato mush with flecks of ham (croquetas that sit in your stomach like concrete? And mushy lentils with gooey cheese curds? And all this at very high prices? How does £4.50 per scallop sound to you? Do the words rip-off flash into your mind? Heavy Spanish red wine on top of this mix doesn't help either. The Charcuterie we tried also does not have the flavour and depth of the French or Italian equivalents. There are none of the quirky tapas found in Barcelona or San Sebastian as these rely on local ingredients which are not available to a wholesaler. Don't know if this place will last, but you are better off going to a French or italian place in this part of London.
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C.Elder
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, November 11, 2008