The Palomar

I was keen to see what all the fuss was about at The Palomar during my next London trip so Nibs and I head there last Tuesday evening.  We hadn't booked so were expecting a long wait on the night as walk ins but were actually seated after about 10 mins, we'd just got our drinks.  Result!  

 
The waiter came to ask if we were ready to order after literally 2 minutes sitting at the bar.  I hadn't even glanced at the menu and Nibs was on the phone.  We told him we weren't, obvs, then he disappeared for about half an hour.  Didn't matter as we had plenty to catch up on, but I've heard similar reports from others. 

 

When the food started to arrive, were were chuffed to bits with what we'd ordered.  First up the bread.  OMG the bloody bread.   Kubanah (£5) actually, baked and delivered in a pot served with tahini and tomato sauces.  INCREDIBLE. 

This came at the same time as the Fattoush salad (£8), tomato, cucumber, onion and croutons with sumac, za'atar and labeneh.  Lovely and fresh. 

 

This beauty of a plate carried the seared scallops (£11.50) served with beurre blanc, swiss chard and an artichoke and hazelnut tuille.  Brilliant textures and tastes, I'm still obsessed with scallops.

The stand out dish for me was the Jerusalem style polenta (£9).  Served in a little tin pot (I was expecting a kilner jar as per the website pic but that's how the mini version comes) the polenta is topped with asparagus, mushroom ragu, parmesan and truffle oil.  For goodness sake.  It's wonderous. 

Final savoury dish was the labenah tortellini (£11).  Pretty prerry.  Labenah is a yoghurt cheese apparently, this was served on butternut squash puree with confit garlic, tomatoes and mange tout.  Dreamy.  We were getting full.  At this point the shots came, if you sit at the bar, you'll probably end up drinking with the guys behind the bar, excellent.

 

We managed to fit in a pud, a tahini ice cream (£7), that was not really an ice cream, more a solid cream, served with filo delight.  Nice end to the meal, but the dessert was not the one, it was all about the previous courses, all lovely.  I really liked the vibe too.  They open late, would love to have this as a late night destination, like Spuntino.  Would be ideal for after work drinks.  I'll be back one day!

The Palomar
 34 Rupert St
Soho
W1D
9/10