Clearly I’m late to the show with my discovery of The Providores & Tapa Room, as once I shared my Friday night experience with my colleagues, several recognized one of their favorite restaurants. But better late than never! As I had an appointment near Baker Street, my friend spontaneously booked a table in the upstairs restaurant. Not knowing what to expect, I was taken aback at first, entering the busy Tapa Room, a bit too loud for my taste. But I was quickly directed upstairs to a much quieter and simple but elegant environment.
From the name, expecting something Spanish, the fusion menu – and we’re talking REAL FUSION – took me by surprise. What is left of Spanish is probably only the tapas style dishes, where it’s recommended to order two to five courses from the menu. We opted for 3 courses plus a dessert. Adding to that, from their wide selection of New Zealand wines, I had a glass of Gewürztraminer, sweet round and fresh, as I like it.
My first dish: “Coconut and black cardamom laksa, a chicken hijiki dumpling, soba noodles, soy truffled shimeji mushrooms, a soft boiled quail’s egg, crispy shallots, coriander.”
Laksa with… dumbling and soba noodles?? AND a quail’s egg?? It all seemed too weird to be any good. Appropriately delivered with chopsticks, the coconut taste in the laksa was delicious going well with the dumplings. What was still weird were the soba noodles. Not so weird as to be bad but… Still made you wonder if fusion had to go that far.
My second dish: “Salad of freekeh, goats’ curd, endive, hazelnuts, grilled aubergine and spring onions, pickled raisin purée, roast tomato miso dressing.”
This was way easier to understand and to digest. I’m a big freekeh fan already and welcome the cereal in my dishes. A very well-balanced dish with the creamy texture of goat’s curd and a fresh dressing made this one a dish I’d like to recomment
My third dish: “Seared yellowfin tuna, papaya, carrot, cucumber and coriander salad, Thai lime dressing, peanuts, sesame.”
The thick pieces of yellowfin tuna were so juicy they could have rivalled a steak. If I had any nag, it was that the experience was over too quickly. Perhaps one more piece of tuna?
To finish off the evening, I went for the rather tame “toasted coconut Frozen hazelnut nougat, cafe latte ice cream, cherry ponzu sauce, hazelnut snow.”
While I’m more than happy to experiment during the course of a meal, I’d like the certainty of a delicious dessert at the end. This one definitely succeeded. Although slightly worried by the cherry ponzu sauce, even this tasted well with the nougat, adding a bitter-sweet refreshing taste.
Two courses £33
Three courses £47
Four courses £57
Five courses £63
Plus a discretionary 12.5% service charge added to the bill.
The Providores has a warm and welcoming atmosphere to it. Although not easy on the wallet, the fusion cuisine is surely worth the experience. I’d recommend it for a small group of friends to celebrate together a night off.
Price: ££££
Food: ****
Service: *****
Decor: ***
