Finding a place to eat in the heart of London is easy. But finding a very nice and worth-the-trip restaurant, is another. Soho is not exactly known mainly for food, but my friend Pat and I were surprised to see this meat haven called Enrique Tomas.
(*Note: We were around Soho before watching The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I don't know why I have to explain really!)
These images caught our attention from the street: juicy, sexy and guilt-filled jamon meat lingering for our love and affection. Hard to resist. We found our feet marching in the store and taste buds started to get excited. Soho has never been sexier.
We met one of their Jamon experts, Ron, as he stopped momentarily from his carving to greet us in Spanish. (Well, it did sound Spanish I guess.) Interestingly, Ron is a fellow Filipino who grew up and worked in Spain before being sent over here by the restaurant to kickstart their London chains.
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| Artist at work. |
Gladly he walked us through the secrets and the basics to Jamon 101. He showed, and most importantly gave us free tastes and trials of various jamons that they have in the shop. He gave us a brief overview on how jamons are prepared and preserved. The quality of each and every one is significantly superb. The bellotas, ibericos, ai magnifico!
Each tasty bite that melts into my mouth makes me feel like a Spanish telenovela actor kissing Thalia. It was definitely love at every bite.
It was time for the real test, it wasn't long that we were cured (pun intended) to get a seat and have dinner right away. We went straight for the big time Paella de Jamon:
Look at all of that gorgeousness. For a little over 10 GBP, it was good for two, but good for 1 hungry tummy. There's also the seafood paella, but we came for the ham! :)
Of course, it won't be enough if we won't go for the unusual dessert, the jamon platter:
Ham-bam-wham. Not for the weak of heart. Literally.
It was pure joy. Too bad we were trying to catch a West End play that dinner, but we would've stayed for more with cheese and wine that they offer. We also had a quick look with their packed sliced jamons.
This is one of my favourite new restaurants in London. Aside from Soho, they also have another one in Covent Garden. If you want to feel and taste the Spanish-styled jamon with fantastic quality and price, you need to visit Senyor Enrique Tomas soon. I for sure will ham back for more.
Quatro Estrellas!
Congratulations to Enrique Tomas for their delicious jamón!
ReplyDeleteLovely blog, btw. Have a nice day