Lobos - The Wolf of Borough High Street

Name: Lobos Meat and Tapas

Where: 14 Borough High Street, London, SE1 9QG, http://lobostapas.co.uk/

About: Opened in 2015, this Spanish tapas and sherry joint is tucked away in a railway arch of London Bridge station. A decidedly cosy spot, it is hard to believe how much has been shoe-horned into a rather unpromising space. There is a bar and stools for sherry and tapas on the ground floor, while upstairs is the open kitchen and tables and chairs for diners.

The name Lobos is the Spanish and Portuguese word for wolves - a befitting name for a place that, beyond tapas, specializes in all things carnivorous.

The management and many of its kitchen staff used to work at Brindisa, and bring their experience and know-how in Spanish ingredients and cooking to London Bridge, without their former employer’s price-tag.

What We Ate: The menu at Lobos is divided into four categories, (appetizers, tapas, meat and dessert) and we had our fair share of each one of them. The beauty of tapas restaurants like Lobos is  that everything is designed for sharing, from appetizers to the more substantial meat platters, so we got to try everything.

From the Appetizers, we started with some martini olives (£4) – beautifully presented in a copper martini glass, these were bright green, juicy and plump, and the best thing we could have ordered to partner our Manzanilla sherry.

A delicious serving of Padron peppers (£5.50) followed, fried simply in Spanish olive oil and seasoned with sea salt, these were soft, blistered and delicious.

Things were definitely looking up at Lobos with our next appetizer - a platter of hand-carved Iberico bellota ham (£14.50). Deliciously marbled, intensely flavoured, and expertly carved wafer-thin, this was a very generous portion.

Moving on to the Tapas selection, the croquetas of ham, chorizo and smoked bacon (£7) were delicious - super-creamy inside, with a crispy outer layer similar to a Japanese korokke.

The seafood with garlic and chilli (£12), featured chunky pieces of prawn, squid and mussels, cooked until sweet and fragrant, and I savoured every morsel.

One of my favourite dishes of the evening was the arroz con costra (£9.50). This featured saffron rice with pieces of chicken, chorizo and spices, topped with an egg crust and morcilla (Spanish black pudding) – this was delicious and excellent value.

The platter of mixed mushrooms came with Brussels sprouts, topped with a soft fried egg flavoured with truffle oil (£8.50) - an eclectic combination that, to my palate, worked brilliantly.

But it wasn’t all meat and seafood that evening at Lobos. We had one of our five-a-day with a delicious green salad of asparagus, courgette, frisse and gem lettuce, and green beans (£6.25).  Seasoned with a zingy citrus dressing, and topped with roughly crushed almonds and pistachio nuts, this salad was refreshing and a great accompaniment to our meat dishes.

And now onto the ‘Meats’. The Iberico pork selection (£26.50) had Iberian acorn-fed pork served three ways - a tender fillet, the secreto (the tender strip found beneath a thick layer of belly fat) and the presa, said to be the finest cut, attached to the shoulder at the head of the loin.

The meats were simply grilled and seasoned with sea salt, served pink to bring out the fantastic quality and flavour of these cuts of prime quality pork.

The pièce de résistance was yet to come – a sumptuous pan-fried ribeye of beef topped with a thick slice of foie gras (£14.95) was excellent both in quality and value.

Not knowing which of the four desserts to go for, we decided to order them all!  They were all beautifully made and delicious, and ranged from the super-refreshing lemon panncotta with amaretto strawberries (£5) and the chocolate ice cream and lemon sorbet (£4.50)….

….To the rich and creamy double chocolate and pistachio cake (£5) and the fantastic dulce de leche cheesecake (£5).

What We Drank: We started with a couple of glasses of Manzanilla En Rama called "I think" - at £5.95 per 100ml glass. Bottled straight from the barrel, this had a very slight haze to it, but a lovely dry and salty aroma. We shared a bottle of Pinna Fidelis Crianza 2010 from Ribera del Duero (£40), which was an excellent partner for the meat and tapas dishes. With bramble fruit flavours, vanilla and clover, this was well structured with a long finish, and good value for a wine of this quality. 

Likes: The Iberico hams and pork were superb, and the ribeye with foie gras was the best I’ve had outside of San Sebastian. The list of sherries and top quality Spanish wines was second to none.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: For a top quality fix of Spanish tapas and meats, Lobos is as good as it gets. I can’t wait to return and try some more of their outstanding Iberian acorn-fed pig. Highly recommended.  

Oblix at The Shard

Words and Photos by AGirlHasToEat and Luiz Hara

Name: Oblix

Where: Level 32, The Shard, 31 St. Thomas Street, London SE1 9RY, http://www.oblixrestaurant.com/

Cost: Oblix Lounge & Bar offers various menus depending on the day and time.
During weekdays there is a deli menu priced at £29 for three courses and on weekends the champagne brunch is £58 for three courses. The evening menu is a sharing menu with starter-size plates ranging from £6 to £18.50, seafood dishes from £24 to £38 and meat dishes from £18.50 to £80. 

About: Oblix on the 32nd floor of the Shard offers some of the most spectacular views over Central London that money can buy. Oblix is divided into two sections  - the Restaurant and the Lounge & Bar, both with different menus and different perspectives.

The Restaurant serves a more formal à la carte menu overlooking St Paul’s, whereas the more relaxed Lounge & Bar offers a deli menu during the day, brunch on weekends, and a sharing style menu with wonderful live music in the evenings (comes with a £5 cover charge). From the Lounge & Bar diners have a view over London Bridge and Tower Bridge which dazzles at night.

The mastermind behind Oblix is Rainer Becker, who along with Arjun Waney launched Zuma and Roka, helping to explain the various Asian influences in the Oblix menu. The Executive chef is Fabien Beaufour who previously worked in The States at The French Laundry and Eleven Madison Park, both of which are three Michelin starred restaurants.

What We Ate: AGirlHasToEat and I dined in the Oblix Lounge & Bar and we really enjoyed it’s buzzy ambience and the sultry tones of the live band. We started our meal with some fabulous tidbits from the small bites section of the menu including fried padron peppers (£5.50) and devilled eggs (£3.50 each), both of which were wonderful. The padron peppers had been sprinkled with crispy panko crumbs that gave them a lovely crunchy texture. Accompanying the peppers was a salt and balsamic powder that provided a nice touch of seasoning and an acidic contrast.

The devilled eggs were also gorgeous. Smooth and creamy, they had been topped with slices of aromatic truffle that heightened the flavour of the eggs.

Crispy fried squid with salt and vinegar (£8) was delicious and well seasoned. The squid was tender and the batter was really well made as it was as light as a feather and very crispy.

Also tasty was the crispy soft shell crab (£14.50). The crab was meaty, the batter was crispy, and it came with an interesting combination of kimchi and marinated daikon that gave the dish acidity and a charismatic contrast.

From the raw section, a scallop and seabream ceviche (£18.50) was heavenly. The both scallops and sea bream were very fresh, particularly the scallops which had an intensely sweet flavour. Within the ceviche were crunchy samphire, cucumber and some aromatic dill that added a resounding freshness to the ceviche. There was also a pleasant hit of chilli and crunchy croutons to round out this dish.

Venison tartare with parmesan and truffle (£13) was delicious. The venison was meaty and it combined well with the earthy nuttiness of the parmesan and the aromatic truffle. The use of some lightly toasted pine nuts helped to make this dish special.

We tried two different seafood dishes, the first of which was the lobster with bone marrow, caviar and smoky mash potato (£29).  The mash was a little salty, but even so, the smokiness of the mash, the fattiness of the marrow, and the decadence of the caviar created an electrifying and interesting combination.

A dish of grilled jumbo tiger prawns with grits and bacon (£24) was reasonably tasty. The prawns were sweet and meaty and were served in a gingery sauce. It had been paired with some creamy grits and bacon that proved to be an unusual combination.

White truffle risotto with parmesan and mascarpone (8g of truffle - £40) proved to be a little underwhelming. The risotto was creamy and the rice had an al dente quality to it. But the risotto was also a little runny and could have done with a greater intensity of flavour.

Grilled beef sirloin (250gm - £28) was tender and flavoursome and cooked to the requested medium rare. It was a delicious cut of meat, although the accompanying pickled onions were too acidic and did not work well with the beef.

The highlight dish of the evening was the grilled wagyu tenderloin with truffle jus and shavings of truffle (£80). It was a glorious plate of food with the wagyu being lusciously fatty, tender and perfectly cooked. The combination of this succulent piece of meat with the wonderful jus and slivers of truffles was amazing.

Moving onto desserts, we really enjoyed the sweet potato pie (£8.50). The filling was creamy with an earthy quality to it and there was a topping of pecan nuts, pine nuts and sweet bacon that added a crunchy contrast to the pie. The accompanying bourbon ice cream also worked well in the dessert.

Less enjoyable was the doughnuts with bacon and a maple and caramel sauce (£6). The doughnuts were a little dense, and a fluffier and lighter texture would have worked better.

The pineapple colada sundae (£9) was a winning pudding and tasted similar to a frozen pina colada. Consisting of rum jelly, fresh pineapple, coconut sorbet, coconut crumble and lime zest, the combination of flavours matched perfectly together. There were also some flaked almonds running through the sundae that provided a lovely touch of crunchiness.  This was a really enjoyable finish to our meal.

What We Drank: AGirlHasToEat and I started our evening with a couple of well made cocktails (all priced at £12.50 or £14.50 for sparkling ones) – mine was an interesting take on the favourite Negroni – made with Habanero mezcal tequila (as opposed to gin), Campari and sweet vermouth, it had a refreshing bitterness from the Campari and was strong as I hoped. AGirlHasToEat opted for an aromatic concoction of lavender vodka, lychee bitters and bitten egg whites which was also expertly made and not too sweet.

These were followed by another round of cocktails, this time the house one – “The Betsy Theory” (£16.50) – made from rye whisky, tobacco, cacao liqueur with mint and peach bitters. Beautifully presented, this cocktail was inspired by the story of Betsy Flanagan, a publican who was thought to have invented the “cocktail” in the 1700s in Virginia.  She used to decorate her alcoholic drinks with tail feathers of roosters, hence the name given today to our loved “cocktails”.

We our meal, we had a couple of glasses of Kistler Dutton Ranch Chardonnay 2006 from Sonoma (175ml/£39 a glass). A superb wine, this was intense, full bodied and with notes of citrus fruits and melon, and was a perfect match to most seafood dishes we tried.

With our steaks we had two glasses of Barboursville Cabernet Franc 2010 (£16) also from American but this time from Virginia, it had soft tannins, dark red fruit and excellent length.

Spetacular Views from Oblix, The Shard's 32nd Floor

Likes: the crispy squid was a great dish as were the venison tartare, the scallop ceviche and the wagyu steak among others. Service was impeccable, and together with the dimmed lighting, the live jazz music and incredible views they made for a fantastic ambience.

Dislikes: we wish there were a few more affordable options on the food and drinks menu.

Verdict: Oblix is the sort of place that makes you feel like a million dollars and we loved it! The food is great, the cocktails are strong and the London views are second to none. We cannot wait to return. Highly recommended.