Fino Restaurant

susan

delightful to be invited there 29th July 2009

0 found this helpful

I was lucky to be invited to Fino for lunch. My host ordered, and all the dishes were delicious: a classic Tortilla, chorizo chips, pimientos al padron, squid, black bream, fried artichokes and tomato salad. Service was stylish and competent. The basement restaurant looks chic and modern. Lunch for two without any alcohol came to £65, which for me makes it a luxury outing.

sue

Stylish Tapas in Fitzrovia 5th August 2008

3 found this helpful

Fino is an upmarket Tapas restaurant situated in a basement just off Charlotte Street. Décor is stylish and service is very professional - not your average tapas bar. We had an early meal there one Friday evening, and really enjoyed the food - the experience was made even sweeter due to a special offer giving us 50% off the cost of our food.

There were a few tables occupied when we arrived at 6.30pm, and by 8pm the place was full. Just before 8.30pm the maitre de approached us and apologetically advised that they needed our table back shortly. That was fine by us, we were ready to leave, and if we had wanted to stay on we could have moved to the small bar area.

We ordered a very tasty bottle of rioja and spent some time trying to decide what to order - it all sounded good and it was hard to decide what not to order. In the end we had the following: Pan Con Tomate; Marinated Grilled Quail; Ham Croquetas; Arroz Negro; and the Spinach Tortilla. We loved it all, though the tortilla was particularly memorable.

Never being able to resist dessert, we ordered a couple of non-Spanishy options, the Donuts; and the Chocolate Fondant. The donuts were nothing special, but the fondant was really chocolatey good.

gastro1

Mucho bueno 14th June 2008

2 found this helpful

Sam and Eddie Hart should be congratulated for Fino and Barafina.

If you want Iberian food made with high quality well sourced ingredients in a great environment then the boys deliver !

Together with Cambio de Tercio in Chelsea this is where I go for my Spanish fix !

Come on Spaniards ( Cambio de Tercio excepted) are you going to let a coupple of Brits show you how its done !

Vamos !

TimWIld

Cold spanish 28th February 2007

4 found this helpful

Fino's one of those destination restaurants. Famous owners (Sam and Eddie Hart), plenty of press coverage, right up there in any thinking diner's list of Spanish restaurants they can remember by name.

So I was pleased to be invited there for dinner last week. It ticks all the swank boxes nicely - lots of polished wood and glass, serious black-clad staff who speak very softly - the whole shebang.

We ate early - about 6.30, so it's not Fino's fault, but the place was completely empty, which lent the whole dinner a slightly surreal air. Something about an absence of people in a large restaurant makes me feel as if all the staff are watching my every mouthful, but it filled up after a while and we were able to relax.

Good things? The tomatoes on toast - simple to make, and really difficult to get just right, as these were. The mixture of acidic tomato, raw garlic power and crunchy toasted flavours was perfect. A plate of lomo (cured pork loin) chorizo and ham was also fantastic, if a little on the small side for twelve quid.

We also ordered some balls of salt cod with a creamy dipping sauce, which tasted exactly like I hope fish and chips is going to taste but never does.

Lest you think that Fino can do no wrong, our milk-fed lamb cutlets were a real disappointment. Four tiny bites of plain lamb for twelve pounds isn't necessarily a bad thing - if the lamb in question makes your mouth water and throws you into rapture about the quality of the meat and its cooking. This just didn't do that - overseasoned, overcooked and poorly presented.

We consoled ourselves with a pair of excellent creme catalans and a glass of exquisitely jammy red dessert wine which I can't quite stop thinking about.

So go - I had a (nearly) fantastic dinner, and so should you.