A small bistro/café without much space for manoeuvring around and WCs down a narrow, spiral staircase. Bent wood chairs and plain tables with cushioned benches in the windows and some 'interesting' art on the walls all adds to the atmosphere.
It's usually pretty busy and service can be a bit slow but the staff are pleasant though informal. No problems handling my wheat allergy as virtually everything is prepared on site.
Food
Olives marinated with rosemary and sweet peppers and an Ok bread with
oil and balsamic dip provided a good start to the various 'tapas' we had
decided on.
Patatas bravas with spicy tomato sauce was really only crisp sautéed potato
pieces (perfectly cooked) served with a pot of tomato sauce but was good
if unexciting.
I've had better tortilla with aioli but this was fine but again, unexciting.
Sautéed garlic mushrooms were fine.
Chorizo in cider with green beans and almonds was a pleasant twist on a traditional
subject and beautifully done
Squid with coriander and chilli; far too often (in other places) it's over-cooked
rendering it more like rubber bands than just resistant to the teeth, but
this was perfect.
I was feeling gluttonous so also ordered the burger (without the bun) with
triple-cooked chips (first par-boiled, then deep fried, then removed from
the oil until it is back to full heat when they are plunged back again to
provide a crisp outer and meltingly soft inner). It came with a bit of salad,
some sliced cornichon and shavings of parmesan and was excellent.
Puddings: Another interesting take was the pudding of Apple and Raisin crumble,
lightly cinnamony and topped with toasted oatflakes, served with homemade
vanilla ice cream, the mix worked really well.
A bottle of house Rioja was reasonable but not as interesting as the Otto Bestué they used to sell and the espresso coffee was good.
At just over £60 for two of us it was good value for money and more than we could eat.
We usually eat here when we are in Bath, the food is dependable and good with some new takes on old favourites (I particularly remember a smoked chicken with celeriac and jalapeno remoulade) and again this time we weren't disappointed, except that the plates and serving dishes were cold and the food rapidly cooled, and not just to a 'Mediterranean warmth', not what was wanted on a chilly December lunchtime.