Dining at Cambio de Tercio in London

One of the best places to have Spanish food in London is the restaurant Cambio de Tercio on Old Brompton Road, near Gloucester Road tube station. Critics and diners alike love it and tennis player Rafael Nadal eats there when he is playing in Wimbledon. It is then no surprise that I promised to celebrate Spain’s World Cup win with a dinner there (World Cup victory doesn’t come very often!).

 

True to my word last Saturday evening I took S. to enjoy an incredibly delicious meal at Cambio de Tercio. Our menu was the following:

 

Starters:

Manchego cheese lollipops

New season white asparagus dressed with seeds and nuts vinaigrette and Padron pepper ali-oli

Char-grilled Galician-style octopus on a bath of potato parmentier and sprinkled with paprika oil

Grilled lamb cutlets accompanied with aubergine puree, Manzanilla olives and one glazed potato

 

Main courses

Wild sea bass with artichokes, smoked grilled courgettes, and cauliflower puree

Basque style monkfish casserole surrounded by griddled razor clams, broad beans, and asparagus tips and showered with parley jus

 

Wine

Terras Gauda 2009 (70% albariño, 20% loureiro, 10% caiño)

 

Dessert

White chocolate ganache topped by passion fruit, ginger ice cream and sprinkled with pistachio,

 

Everything was delicious and the flavours released by every bit left us speechless. After yummy crunchy asparagus, the potato parmentier where the octopus lazily swam was so tasty that it deceived me into thinking that was spiced up with some mild herbs; however, the waiter set me right when he swore that the parmentier was made of potato, olive oil and salt only cooked and stirred for half an hour to give it a gelatinous texture. The lamb cutlets were so tender that my companion, who doesn’t exactly love meat, had to admit defeat and proclaim it was mouth-watering. The fish was outstanding: although the sea bass topped my monkfish in my opinion and the artichokes brought some fond memories of my mother’s cooking. And, finally, the Dessert: that dessert is one of the best ones I have had in my life; the way the passion fruit melted the ginger ice cream and spiced up the chocolate sent my senses into such a rapture that the experience was, as the waiter put it, “orgasmic”. With a blissful smile on her face, my companion concurred with him.

 

We finished the loveliest evening having a watermelon cocktail at Coquine, a posh cocktail bar across the road from Cambio de Tercio.

 

Love and freedom.