London Salsa - Latin Restaurant Reviews - Eating Out Guide to the Best

The Best of London Salsa Classes, Salsa Clubs, Salsa Events in London & the South East
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*London Salsa: Live Gig & Viva Viva Review 28 Jan 08*


	George Peguero Live at Viva Viva, N8

	The Gig: George Peguero Unplugged The Place: Viva Viva Bar/Restaurant, 18 High Street, Hornsey, London N8 7PB The Date: Saturday 25th January 2008 For More & To book: www.viva-viva.co.uk email: info@viva-viva.co.uk tel: 020 8 341 0999 Review by: London Salsa Scene staff writer, photograph by Miguel del Foto.

		Opening with Chan Chan, George Perguero caught the audience from the start with a moving homage to composer Compay Segundo and the golden voices of the Buena Vista Social Club’s Eliades Ochoa and Ibrahim Ferrer on Saturday night. The setting - Viva Viva, Hornsey’s unique world music bar/restaurant - provides the right ingredients - an intimate setting and a warm, receptive audience. Cuban George Peguero and his crew - including Alex Wilson’s Emeris Solis on congas - responded in kind, delivering urgent Cuban grooves laced with the melancholy of the Cuban soul in exile. George Perguero’s Latin reworking of the Doors’ Light my Fire had an unexpected fresh, tropical twist while it was good to hear Rain - from his album Bohemio - played live. We spotted Cuban dance diva Damarys Farres, grooving away, singing along and looking radiant. The brainchild of classical musician turned restauranteur, Evie, Viva Viva is probably the only place of its kind in the capital. With FREE live world music every night of the week - there’s a door charge only for expensive, top name acts - this is a place to relax with friends, eat out cafe style and enjoy live music without paying an arm and a leg for it. My companion started with humous & pitta bread, moving onto pasta with vegetables - “simple and delicious, very tasty,” he said. My starter was chorizio with chickpeas - served peasant-style with huge hunks of meat, followed by a main course of parma ham salad - tasty and not mucked about with. We didn’t try ‘em but the cocktails looked good. The bill - including the night’s entertainment - and coffees - came in at under £40.00. Report filed midday, Monday 28th January 08 *CLICK HERE* *TO COMMENT*

BEST OF LONDON SALSA: Your Letters 12th Dec 2007


	Where Can I Dine and Dance Salsa?

Dear Sirs
I am looking for a venue in London that offers genuine, good salsa music with good dining and salsa class. Can you recommend somewhere? (have heard about Bar Salsa and no thank you!)
Yours faithfully
Patricia R.
Ahh - there isn’t an easy answer to this one. We like Soho’s Floridita for a Christmas works do, there’s a great vibe and dancing but no dance classes CLICK HERE - best if the boss is paying.
   Some places offer dining and salsa classes. Arch Angel - formerly Bar Cuba - on Kensington High Street used to be reliable but we haven’t been since it re-opened, similarly Sway on Great Queen Street WC2. Titos in London Bridge is a sweetly shabby Peruvian place with salsa classes (check when salsa classes are on). The Cuban in Camden offers salsa classes on Thursdays, pub food available - cocktails are a knockout. The Tree House in Croydon offers good food downstairs (a friend’s recommendation) and classes and club have flava too!
   There are authentic Latin restaurants where you can dance but no classes - La Bodeguita in Elephant and Castle, La Mazorca in Brixton (see reviews).
   On the other hand, you can get the best of both worlds by choosing a great Latin restaurant - with no classes or dancing and catch an early salsa dance class nearby. Sabor on the Essex Road (classes Clockwork); La Bodeguita del Medio in Kensington (classes Arch Angel); Gilgamesh in Camden are highly recommended (classes Cuban - CLICK HERE for reviews).
   To start the evening off, try salsa classes at Cuban Connection’s new club on Wednesdays at 4 Wild Court, Holborn with SALSA CHAMPIONS Rafael del Busto and Janet Fuentes Torres.
   For live music and dining, try the newly refurbished Ronnie Scotts in Soho (above by Miguel del Foto). With live jazz every night, swish dining and cocktails, Ronnie Scotts is the epitome of class and cool. We saw Snowboy with Alex Wilson and Grupo-X’s Jonny Enright there the other night. Visit: www.ronniescotts.co.uk Ronnie’s is at 47 Frith Street W1, tel: 020 7439 0747.
   Just around the corner and too cool to have its name on the door is Soho’s Groucho Club, 45 Dean Street, London W1. Go after your class to hob nob with celebrities and for a stylish dinner in the brasserie or posh nosh in the dining room.


	*This is a members’ only gaff with cachet and surprising heart.* *www.thegrouchoclu b.com* *T: 020 7439 4685 Don’t forget, Salsa clubs don’t warm up til very, very late so you could dine and then go onto a club for a wild bop! Ed.*

*Best of London Salsa: Restaurant Review - The Hide, SE1*


	Hide and Seek Cocktails in London Bridge

	The Place: The Hide Bar Where: 39-45 Bermondsey Street SE1 3XE To Book: 020 7403 6655 Visit: www.thehidebar.com Price: main course for two, with a cocktail: from £30 If you’re knocking around the nether regions of London Bridge with a fancy for some cracking cocktails, make for the Hide Bar, just opened minutes from the mainline/tube stations and Irene Miguel’s MamboLifestyle Dance Studios. Jammy locals must romp back time and again to mop up just one more of these damnably good cocktails. The Hide’s own Ruby Shoes – vanilla infused Matusalem rum, blended with black raspberry liqueur and raspberry puree – and raspberry margarita deserve respect. We tried tapas - chorizo, garlic prawns and bruschetta – all fresh, good flavours and generous portions. For mains, the veggie tasting plate – tortilla, manchego cheese, patatas bravas, olives and capers – was a serious contender. My main - Mediterranean salad with beetroot, beansprouts, feta and other healthy stuff disappointed - it was more of a side dish than a main. Serves me right for trying to eat food with no calories (there’s a new menu now - ed - 7.9.07). The Hide is worth seeking - it’s one of those off the beaten track little gems, and owner Paul Mathew is clearly passionate about his drinks and food. There’s interesting beer from the Greenwich Meantime Brewery, even the coffee cuts it and service is attentive. Hearty mains are £8.00 a throw so lunch or dinner with drinks won’t break the bank. This is a stylish, chilled watering hole perfect after work or before you go out clubbing where a lone diner won’t feel like a Billy No Mates or worse - if you’re a girlie - you’re on the pull. *Photograph by Miguel del Foto. London Salsa Post Friday 29 June by Ed.*

Best of London Salsa: Bodeguita del Medio Review


	Cuban Cachet & Cocktails

		Restaurant Review: La Bodeguita del Medio Category: Cuban. Find them at: 47 Kensington Court, Kensington W8 5DA Contact: 020 7938 4147 Visit: www.bdelmlondon.com Dive off the main drag on Kensington High Street – just minutes from the tube – all shopped out and weary of shallow materialism and you might just discover new Cuban bar and restaurant, La Bodeguita del Medio (BdelM). Inspired by Havana’s most famous eponymous restaurant, BdelM gives Kensington back its old cachet. The Cuban bar was packed with young lovelies the night we went. The mojitos are delicate and more-ish but tot up quickly at £7.00 a throw. Kick off your shoes, look cool and let another slip down without touching the sides. We started with king prawns tempura and charcuteria with melba toast, chargrilled mushrooms, asparagus, artichokes and aubergine, plus house bread and olives. Nothing poncy about any of this; the dishes come big on flavour, big on looks and in beefy, man-sized helpings. For mains, I had sea bass - and not some weedy tiddler either - served picture-perfect, close to food pornography. My veggie companion struggled to find a main, so opted for smoked mozzarella and roasted peppers quesadillas and a selection of side dishes. We ordered as we went along, leisurely, with plates turning up within a nano second of being a twinkle in chef’s eye. For afters, I chose mango cheesecake: tangy, sharp, no regrets. The mega South American/Latin wine list deserves to be pored over; bottles range from an Argentinean rosé at £15.00 to a Chateau Latour 93 at £195, with everything in between. Restaurant service is prompt but impersonal. BdelM is a Cuban romance delivered with Brit stick and attention to detail. This is a passion for very hands on owner/chef DB; no one sets out to re-create Earnest Hemingway’s favourite haunt, a new Cuban-inspired cuisine and a heroic wine list without having the hots for all things Cuban and good living. Go with someone you have the hots for and impress. Ed Travel: High St Kensington tube. Open Mon-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 11am-11pm. Meal for two with wine and service £70.00. London Salsa in Kensington, Restaurant Review posted 9 March 2007.

*La Perla, Covent Garden Restaurant Review*



		*Latin party vibe at La Perla, Covent Garden, WC2; photograph by Miguel del Foto.*

	Margarita Heaven

			Desiccate your palette with a cheek-sucking-in-ly sour and salty, desert dry margarita at La Perla Bar in Covent Garden, just minutes walk from the tube. Then order a jug to make sure it wasn't a fluke. With over 100 kinds of Tequila on offer, this Mexican bar and restaurant at 28 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden has more authentic Latin flava than most. There is a crush of bodies at the bar tube-at-peak-travel-times style but nobody minds in the warm and fuzzy office crowd. La Perla's like hanging out in the kitchen at a mate's party, chefs knocking up tucker in front of you and great salsa music rocking the joint. For starters, my companion said his mango, brie and jalapenos quesadillos served with peach salsa were "light, a delicious mix of flavours" while my king prawns marinated in tequila, chilli and garlic were so good they should be illegal. For mains, my mate chose rib-sticking char-grilled vegetable (fresh and crunchy) fajita, served with refried beans, guacamole and sour cream. I went for swordfish steak with pomegranate, avocado, mango and chilli salsa but it was a let down. Minus both rocket and avocado as promised on the menu, I regretted not going for oven baked duck leg cooked in Pacifico beer, or the safer bet of trad burritos or enchiladas. Service at La Perla is faster on the draw than the meanest hombre, while the margaritas are seriously quaffable. Average price for two diners, with a jug of margarita: £60.00. Open: Mon to Sat - Noon to 11pm (Restaurant: Late Supper Licence) Sunday - 4pm to 10.30pm. Happy Hour: 4.00pm-7.00pm, 7 days a week. Reservations taken on 020 7240 7400 web: www.cafepacifico-laperla.com *London salsa in Covent Garden, Restaurant review Posted: Wed, 15th January 07. “Tried La Perla last night with mum and dad. Margaritas & dinner hhhmmm”. - Rich & Mel, 22 May 2007*

London Salsa Scene Reader’s Problem: Dave in Fulham - Where are THE BEST Places in London for a first date???


	Heroic Dining in Ancient Assyria

		Restaurant Review: Gilgamesh Bar/Restaurant/Lounge Where: Camden Stables Market, Chalk Farm Rd, Camden NW1 8AH To Book 020 7482 5757 Visit: www.gilgameshbar.com Price, meal for two, with wine: £80.00 Writing corrosive and pithy copy about a less than perfect restaurant is a piece of cake. Find something you can mouth off about – be it a rotten starter, overpriced wine or desultory service and you’re sorted. But just hint that you like the place and you’re well dodgy. Well, I just don't care – Gilgamesh in Camden is immaculate. Head chef Ian Pengelley (Gordon Ramsey’s former stable mate) has crafted a pan-Asian menu with fire and passion - it's a 10, sublime, food heaven. Gilgamesh is one mother of a humungus imaginative tour de force, from the ride up the escalator to the restaurant to the exit via the grand stairs (decorated with a frieze the size of a mountain), It’s an ancient Mesopotamian theme park, the British Museum on an acid trip, delivering on a heroic, gob-smacking scale, in hallucinogenic technicolour and down to painstaking detail in the toilets. In the hangar sized resaturant, the DJ takes centre stage in a chariot, playing salsa, among other stuff, guarded by two human-headed winged lions as big as elephants. You can drift off, no probs, into the nether world, hob nob with toffs at King Gilgamesh’s palace, enjoy an orgy or two followed by the odd spot of looting and pillaging in Hampstead Village for afters. We started in the lounge, choosing from a pantheon of cocktails named after Mesopotamian deities. My choice was Ishtar, the Goddess of Love – Mountgay Rum, rose and Champagne - very loveable and incredibly decadent. One too many in this surreal setting and you could suffer a spontaneous past life regression. The idea is to order dishes to share; we chose crispy squid – in batter so light it tasted of air - and a selection of tempura, fresh, succulent - irresistible. For mains, it was hoba miso Chilean Seabass – a super sized, honey roast bass - sensational. For dessert, a pan-Asian speciality, chocolate fondant - just try it. I don’t care how “authentic” or not Ian’s menu is, the guy’s a genius, everything he rustles up tastes like ambrosia. For the perfect finish, it was aged Cuban rum, evaporating before you sup it. Divine. While you’re dining, glance across at Ian in the open kitchen, doing his thing and smiling like a demon. Maybe Gilgamesh had a pal in the old days in Uruk, whom the gods endowed with a perfect ability to cook…. London Salsa in Camden, Restaurant Review Wed 30 May 2007

Salsa Clubs and Classes on Thursdays in Camden: Streetbeat Salsa The Cuban, Stables Market

*Best of London Salsa: Camino Restaurant Review*

Whopping Cavas at Kings Cross Bar



	The Place: Camino Where: 3 Varnisher's Yard, The Regent Quarter, King's Cross (off Pentonville Road) N1 9FD To Book: 020 7841 7331 Visit: www.barcamino.com Price: meal for two, with wine: £80 Camino is a new Spanish bar/restaurant, minutes from King’s Cross mainline, tube and Thameslink stations - and the London LatinFest August Bank Holiday Weekender at Scala (see HOME). Set in a quiet courtyard off Pentonville Road, you just know you’re safe from gentlemen of the road in dodgy trousers asking for the price of a cup of tea. In fact, it’s almost safe from diners too - the road’s not in the A-Z and it’s not really a road - look out for the A-board on Pentonville Road. Décor wise, minimalist, clean lines border on the clinical; the vibe formal, restrained. Owner Richard Bigg – the Latinophile behind Shoreditch’s Cargo – has put together a few of his favourite Latin things to create an intimate menu with under-stated style and sabor. Stand out features are whopping fine cavas, Iberian ham cured for 30 months and faultless service. My only regret was not trying the Asturian cider. The roomy separate bar is just right for chilling with friends and the office crowd. Just opened, Camino is already getting packed - don’t try the restaurant without booking. Above: photo by Miguel del Foto. London salsa in Kings Cross Restaurant Review: Monday 25 June

*Best of London Salsa: Restaurant Review, Sabor, 31 Oct*


	Sabor - Cutting Edge Cuisine with Soul

	Restaurant: Sabor Cuisine: Latin American Address: 108 Essex Road, London N1 8LX To Book: 020 7226 5551 Prices: meal for two with drinks £70.00 approx When you call your place Sabor (in Spanish, it means flavour), you’ve got something big to live up to. You can’t merely deliver the obvious and serve great food and drinks - you’ve got to deliver it - with feeling, piquancy, dash, verve, elan. Sabor is diminuitive; there’s about as much leg room as a train carriage with minimalist, sharp, sleek lines. If the whole restaurant started to judder forward and head off to Bogota it wouldn’t be a surprise. Tucked away in the back of beyond a good trot from Angel and Highbury and Islington tubes, Sabor’s like an old fashioned dame who isn’t going to give it up to anybody. You’ve got to do the running to seek her out - and then you get your reward. This is cutting edge Latin American cuisine created and served by people passionate about what they do; traditional dishes are there, but the poetry of the food and the drinks are in sharp, succulent focus. We started with cocktails - passionfruit diaquiris all round - you can practically smootch with these babies - they taste as good as they look. One was not enough; I went back for a pineapple and ginger martini. Perfect - fresh, juicy, tropical, and with a kick. My starter ceviche tropical - sea bass with lime and passion fruit juices was mouth wateringly yielding & juicy, almost perfumed with passionfruit. New dish - Cancato de Chiloe - was a great balance of yin and yang - soft, grilled sea bream stuffed with mucho macho chorizo. My companion vouched for his rib-eye steak - excellent. Service was attentive and unobstrusive. Sabor delivers; big flavours, good looks, a modern take on Latin American cuisine that remains true to the original. The wine list - stuffed with South American gems - deserves thorough investigation. I’ve got one big niggle - Sabor is in north London - you jammy wotsits. Photograph: Miguel del Foto, words, Ed, 31 October 07

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©London Salsa Scene is an online, independent magazine guide covering salsa and the Latin lifestyle in London and beyond. The views published are not necessarily those of the Editor. All rights reserved. London Salsa Scene retains Copyright over all the articles and photographs published on this website - it is an infringement of that right to use this material elsewhere without our written permission. Disclaimer: London Salsa Scene publishes information on behalf of promoters, organisers, dancers and others in good faith but is not responsible if these events are cancelled, altered or if performers and instructors billed not not appear; this is exclusive liability and responsibility of the event organiser.


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