Dehesa

What hits you when you walk in to Dehesa is not only the immediate warmth but the sense of buzz this little dining room has. No sign of ageing wood and rustic tiling here, Dehesa has taken a modern canteen approach complete with Scandinavian style furniture. Not quite a venue to get up close and personal with your date (unless your lucky enough to bag one of the two window booths), but perfect for a catch up with friends or a quick meal.

The menu continues the contemporary approach with clean and crisp versions of authentic tapas fare. Dishes are ample and include plates of superbly cooked food, such as the crispy courgette flowers with monte enegro and honey, tender and tangy prawns, juicy and spicy chorizo as well as a few surprises – the sea bass with creamy leek carbonara and broad beans was a particularly refreshing and well thought out dish. What stands out here is that each dish is made and presented with care, almost tapas meets haute cuisine.

Service is swift, accommodating and polite and I particularly liked when our waitress asked if we'd like three courgette flowers at no extra cost (one for each of us) as the dish usually only came with two. A special mention also goes to the soft and rich chocolate cake and frangelico ice cream, in a word, yum! Certainly one to go back to again and again.

A friend and I tried Dehesa randomly on a Wed night, we had both heard of it and new it came from good stock, plus it looked really inviting. We were greeted straight away and offered the choice of counter seating or the communal tables. We chose to sit at the counter, which was great because everytime we needed something the bar tender was right there to assist. We arrived @ about 7pm, and it was quickly buzzing and the ambience was great, and the decor and service allows the feeling of luxury even though this is a fairly casual venue.
We orderd 6 items altogether from the tapas menu, the padron peppers were yummy and not too salty, the spanish omlette was huge! We tried trout as a wild card dish and it was delicious in fact everything we ate tasted good, fresh and the portions were far from stingy making it great value too. We didn't drink, and with service the bill was £22.50, a bargain! We are going back again this Wed, so let's see if consistency is another plus for this newcomer.