Review: Tendido Cero, Chelsea

This is the “more informal tapas bar” to the high-end Spanish restaurant Cambio de Tercio over the road. But the apple doesn’t fall far etc, and we still have fine white linen and tapas that have been cooked and presented with the soul of a fine dining chef. Not that I’m complaining about comfy chairs instead of hard-bottom stools and people coming to top up your water for you.

Their tortilla is top notch, gooey on the inside but just firm enough not to be silly, perfectly seasoned too. Their “famous” jamon croquetas have a silky cheese interior and very delicate shells, not at all oily, but for me I’d just love more generosity with the ham. We also have some very friendly chunks of morcilla de burgos, topped with halves quail eggs and sitting on a spicy tomato paste. Jolly good. Finally along the trad lines, we have deep fried strips of calamari and aioli. Again, a very delicately crispy batter and squid that is still a perfect al dente and not at all chewy, very good with a squeeze of lemon.

My favourite two dishes are the more elaborate concoctions. We have roast parsnips with an aubergine puree and nut pesto. No charring on these parsnips, they are soft and golden with a sweet flavour, complemented by the smoky-sweetness of the aubergine puree and pepped up by the roasted nuts and bright green basil. This is a really splendid veg dish and very generous. Finally, we have a beautiful pluma iberica, very pink in the middle and blackened around the edges with a dark and sticky glaze. The roast pineapple chunks served with it are a perfect juicy sweet-sour accompaniment to basically some of the best pork you could ever hope to chew.

So for tapas it probably was £35 each before drinks, but it was very good tapas in convivial surrounds. The wines by the glass average around the £10 mark, so don’t be expecting a cheap glass with your meal. For myself, I actually prefer the places like Jose and Barrafina that seem to cleave more closely to the relaxed tapas culture that inspired them (not necessarily much cheaper, mind you), but if you want to feel more spiffy then Tendido Cero won’t disappoint.