We ate at Polpo on Monday night and taking advantage of the soft opening prices ordered pretty much everything on the menu. The arancini were delicious, indeed as you mention the fried food is beautifully cooked. Our Liver was great - the highlight of the evening for two non liver eating friends as was the pork belly with raddichio and the beef flank was simple but also very good and cooked perfectly. Our group was split on the pumpkin prosciuto and ricotta but i thought this was a great combination and polished it off. For a first week meal this shows great promise and i can imagine it becoming a firm soho favourite of mine - easpecially for lunch.
Maybe it was a case of opening night nerves with the Liver and Steak or the fact that they suffered in comparison to the other stuff.
It's odd though that fine as it is, Polpo would be unremarkable in say Spain or Italy but here people are already wetting their knickers in excitement. It's all a bit unedifying and says a lot about the general quality of food at this level in London.
Like I said in my post the number of decent places is increasing but we're still short of hitting an sort of critical mass and consistency can still be an issue.
I walked past this place the other day and thought I must just not have noticed it before, didn't realise that it was new. Sounds worth a visit and I have to say I quite enjoy the small plates thing as I do suffer menu envy so like being able to try to eat a bit of lots of different things.
Thank God you did witter on about the 'unusual, creative and exotic' cuttlefish cooked in ink. . . And it is a shame that a nice place should be so remarkable in a city that likes to think of itself as a great gourmet centre. Good to know they can fry though.
Hello, I am heading there tonight, I am really looking forward to it. I must say that tapas aren't my favourite way to dine. They always seem to add up before you know, so I will take your advice and order carefully!
Hopefully see you guys soon!
Hope you had a good time. Still prefer Vinoteca though !