Donostia

After raving about another Spanish restaurant not too long ago, when our friends Y & P invited us for dinner at Donostia, I knew it would be hard to compete with that recent, delicious memory... but I think this place beats Morada by just an inch! 

These friends really know their food, so of course I knew that the meal would be great, considering that they are very regular customers there. But E and I are both impressed beyond expectation, and also just loved the atmosphere of the place - casual but classy and simply the perfect vibe for a tapas dinner.

Between the four of us, we tackled a big chunk of their menu, and a few from their specials as well. They have the classic tapas picks like ibérco ham, tortilla and croquettas, as well as dishes you may not have tried before. Everything was presented beautifully and served by very friendly waiters, which makes it all the nicer! 

What we had:

Pan con tomate

Foie gras with walnuts & PX vinegar

Crispy creamy croquettas w/ jamon

Tempura prawns w/ ham & mango

JABUGO: Cinco Jotas Jamón Ibérico de Bellota 3 years aged, hand carved

Another ham from the specials that I can't quite remember - sorry!

BOQUERONES: White anchovies with marinated piquillo peppers

OLAGARROA: Octopus in Basque marinade

ZAPOA: Monkfish with arroz negro (black rice) (although I think it was cod that day)

BIEIRA: Scallops with butternut squash purée

GALEPERRA: Quail with kale and pancetta

PLUMA: Succulent Ibérico de Bellota pork shoulder with Romesco sauce

Ibérico chorizo with piquillo pepper & watercress

PATATAK: Triple cooked chips with brava sauce

PIPERRAK: Blistered Padron peppers with sea salt

TORTILLA: Classic potato and egg omelette

Wow, ok. Seeing what we ate in writing is making me wonder how we managed that! The excuse being, of course, that all the dishes are small in size...and we definitely didn't order two of anything...(ahem). Anyway, what matters most is that we ate it all, because everything was superb. My favourites were probably the cod with black rice, and the pork shoulder, but I honestly loved everything. I seem to be saying that a lot about the restaurants I've been to lately, but I guess I've just been very lucky!

And we mustn't forget desert - we had 3 of their homemade ice creams (raspberry, walnut and coconut), which are absolutely not to be missed. They are outrageously good.

We had gin and tonics that were as big as fishbowls to wash it all down, which were excellent - I've only recently discovered that I enjoy G&Ts quite a bit, so it was pretty perfect.

Rumour has it that they are opening a sister restaurant just across the road, so naturally, we are very excited to try that when it opens. For now, we're so happy to have been introduced to Donostia, and been treated to such a fantastic dinner by Y & P. (Thank you both, again!)

Oh, and what's that? They actually take reservations? What a luxury. 

Donostia

10 Seymour Place

W1H 7ND

020 3620 1845

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morada brindisa asador

Being a blogger is so much more rewarding, exciting and humbling than I ever knew it to be, and it has also completely exceeded my expectations with the company that it has brought me. I've met some truly lovely, intelligent, funny, interesting friends who I've felt at ease with the minute we bumped into each other. 

Since I've done the whole "meet strangers from the internet" enough times to not be scared of it, it's become fairly normal for me and E has got used to it as well. However, E is a fairly private person (it's already hard enough for me to post the occasional photo of him on here!) and would never have imagined that he would do anything of the sort. 

You probably see where this story is going... well, he must love me a lot, because it happened! Before you think I'm some kind of Wifezilla, he wasn't against the idea - just very apprehensive. But I told him that he'd taken the step into food blogger world with his instagram, so it was no big deal that he would join us for a foodie get together - after all, we all have at least one thing in common, right?

As it happens, I do believe that you naturally gravitate towards people who you probably have more than one thing in common with - even if it's not anything tangible like hobbies or backgrounds, it's that funny thing called chemistry that makes people comfortable with each other and have a great time. And that was how the evening was - a bunch of us would-be-strangers-if-not-for-the-internet, having a blast of an evening with food and drinks and lots of chatting.

The gang included Leng, Jesse, Emma & VA (all of whom I'd met before and knew were great girls), and we had a couple of boys in the mix in the form of Thach & E. Funnily enough, Thach and I had followed each other on Instagram for a long time, and he's actually from the same home town as E in the South of France, which is a nice coincidence!

We'd actually planned to go to Shackfuyu (the Bonedaddies new pop-up), but they unfortunately had a flood that evening and had to close. Knowing that we may have had too long a queue anyway, we'd booked a place as a Plan B - Morada Brindisa Asador. And it turns out that Plan B was Plan Delicious.

The Brindisa restaurants have a stellar reputation, and Morada is the new kid on the block (and the only one you can make reservations for, which is a big bonus). 

"Placing emphasis on meat, seafood and vegetables, Morada Brindisa Asador is centred around the Castilian tradition of roasting suckling pigs and limb in an ‘asador’ - a vast wood fired oven. Sit back and enjoy the theatre of the kitchen as dishes are prepared directly in front of you at the 360 degree bar, in the Josper oven or over the Robata grill."

I loved the vibe of the restaurant - stylish, friendly, no banging music. Our waiter was lovely, patiently explained the menu to us, was generally very attentive which was great. Having seven of us around the table meant we managed to try a good variety of food, so here's a list of the things we ordered:

“Mojama” Cured Tuna with almonds

Hand Carved Iberico Bellota Ham

“Chistorra” Chorizo Fritter

Potatoes “Revolconas” with pork “torreznos”

Kale and  “Escabeche” Sardine Salad

Butifarra Sausage with oven potatoes

Milk Fed Lamb

Roasted Suckling Pig

Coca Bread with tomato

Dessert:

La Bauma Cheese Cake

Homemade Tarta de Santiago

Chocolate Mousse

Writing about this now is making me extremely hungry, because honestly, this meal was absolutely wonderful. I loved every single dish, but the standouts were the Suckling Pig (an absolute must if you go), the Milk Fed Lamb, and the Potatoes Revolconas. Really though, we all agreed that everything was delicious (and that corn dogs should all be chorizo-filled), and we had some very nice red wine alongside our feast. It was quite the hilarious sight, as we all whipped out our cameras - be they big DSLRs, compact cameras or iPhones - and there was the unspoken understanding that no one touches the dishes until we're all done with the photoshoot. It's good to feel like crazy people together.

The desserts were great too, particularly the cheesecake in my opinion (although the waiter told us it wasn't his favourite! I completely disagree) - but we all pretty much liked everything,

For all that food and 2 bottles of wine between us, it came to about just over £30 per head, which I think is very reasonable for the high quality of food, and a good amount of it. I would go back there in a heartbeat, and I think everyone agreed!

We weren't quite done with our evening yet, so we went on to LAB bar, where they offer a huge selection of cocktails at good prices - definitely worth popping into if you're in the area.

All in all, we had a fantastic evening and I'm excited to give the other Brindisa restaurants a try. Oh, as well as Shackfuyu Take Two - hopefully with no flood this time. 

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