London - Fino

Having found myself in discord with the masses over Moro, conflict struck again, when I did not find Fino to be the exceptional dining experience described by top London culinary opinion.  To add to my woe and self doubt, the five friends I dined with at Fino, loved it.

Fino was opened in 2003 by Sam and Eddie Hart, two brothers, whose father owns Hambleton Hall, the Country House Hotel in Rutland.  They have since joined the cavalry of chefs, charging to rescue domestic culinary incompetence, via overweight, self promoting, cookery books.

Fino is totally subterranean.  You enter via Rathbone Street and weave down light a wooden staircase to the reception desk.

The ambience is noisy and bordering on claustrophobic.

The bar is small and really only suitable as a holding area for diners awaiting tables.

We were quickly shown to ours, which amazingly was booked for 6 people at 8.30pm.  Fino was packed and the maitre d’ was keen that we were seated promptly.  Having said that, the table was ours for the evening and it was good to see that Fino has not succumbed to the increasingly common, irritating procedure of only taking reservations for 7pm and 9 – 9.30pm.

The menu consists of numerous tapas style dishes, but not traditional tapas, rather ‘neuva cocina, or as their cook book describes it, modern Spanish cooking.  The idea is that each person orders two or three dishes, which arrive at random and are placed on the table for all to share.

The ‘Cod Bilbania’ was exceptional.  The lamb cutlets were also very good, as was the quail and The Classic Tortilla.

However, Pinchos Morunos, supposedly skewers of pork fillet, arrived as two large chunks of meat.  Having sawn through one and exercised my jaw to exhaustion, I gave up.  It was, perhaps, not insignificant, that no one else at the table ventured there, including the culprit who placed the order.

The clams were presented in a sea of greasy garlic, and my eyebrows raised when the Pa Amb Tomaquet (Tomato Toast) arrived; thick slices of bread spread with, what looked more like a fine layer of raspberry jam seeds, than tomato.   I personally prefer the Italian style of layering chopped tomato with basil on less mouth wrenching portions of bread.

Fino prides itself on its wine list, and with justification.  We opted for a bottle of Vina Arana Reserva 1998 at £38.  The one bottle rapidly morphed into a second, as did the white selection, Placet Palacios Remondo (£33).

I have rarely experienced such exquisite cod, but I have never, in a quality restaurant, been presented with such awful pork.  My lasting impression of Fino, stayed with me for most of the following day, as my taste buds were clogged with garlic.

Yuk!

Fino
33 Charlotte Street
(Entrance on Rathbone St)
London
W1T 1RR

020 7813 8010

www.finorestaurant.com