Barrafina
54 Frith Street (in SoHo, near Leicester Square Tube)

During my two brief drop-ins to London the early part of April, I had three (yes, three!) opportunities to dine at this fabulous new tapas bar in London's SoHo. Quite an impressive place, I must say, blending freshness with sophistication, casualness with high quality. It was bloody expensive and always full (no reservations, use the webcam to see how busy they are!), but quite excellent.

Over the three meals with a good mate of mine, who introduced the place to me, we went through nearly the entire menu! Most of the dishes were absolutely fantastic, ranging from morcilla (blood sausage) to grilled razor clams (a special), from the baby squid (chipirones) to the lamb chops, everything was fantastic! The tortillas were a bit heavy and they help to keep the costs down!

The nicest thing is to have a generous helping of jamón ibérico as the meals wound up...that is just a spectacular treat. I think I put on about 5 pounds from the meals, but it was well worth it!

Food: A-
Atmosphere: B
For Lone Diners: A- (*)