Harden's says
Chef Quique Dacosta has been heavily awarded by the tyre men for his two restaurants in Spain (Quique Dacosta in Denia and El Poblet in Valencia), and has been heralded with arriving in the UK since late 2017 with backing from the Iberica chain. Originally called InPaella, the main offering of this project, which finally opened in June 2019, is paella, and it will be anything but ordinary.
Harden's survey result
Summary
“A joy!” – paella cooked over a wood fire in the Valencian style, “so drier than some you may have had before” – is the headline attraction at this London outpost from superstar Spanish chef Quique Dacosta. But “sublime starters – beef cheeks, Atlantic squid and pork jowl” also really hit the spot on an “unexpected” menu. The location just off Oxford Street does little to attract custom, although it is a “good place to host in the private dining room”.
Summary
No-one, it seems, told star Spanish chef Quique Dacosta (whose Alicante restaurants hold three Michelin stars) that you don’t launch an ambitious foodie venue just off the shopping hell of Oxford Street. This impressive-looking four-year-old – complete with a large open kitchen – offers high quality grills, with the speciality being a selection of paella dishes. Feedback remains quite limited (not helped by its location) – neither huge criticism, nor huge praise is present.
Summary
“Good food, but not great value” is a common verdict on this Spanish venture north of Oxford Street – the London outpost of chef Quique Dacosta, whose Alicante restaurant has three Michelin stars. It certainly looks impressive, with an open kitchen dominated by a six-metre woodfired stove, at which choice cuts of meat and fish are grilled alongside a dozen rice dishes cooked in the pan. But while it is praised for its “perfect paella”, it is also often cited as diners’ “most overpriced meal of the year”.
Summary
He has three Michelin stars back in Alicante, but Quique Dacosta’s two-floor two-year-old just north of Oxford Street is a more middle-market affair, with an extensive menu of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes whose most obvious Hispanic features are a large collection of paellas. Feedback was mixed this year, though. Some reporters had wonderful meals, but others found it “just too pricey for what it was… lovely interior, but the dishes fell a bit flat”.
For 33 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).
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64 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8NQ
Restaurant details
Prices
 Drinks |
|
|---|---|
| Wine per bottle | £50.00 |
| Filter Coffee | £5.00 |
 Extras |
|
|---|---|
| Bread | £6.00 |
| Service | 13.50% |
64 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8NQ
Opening hours
| Monday | 12 pm‑3 pm, 5 pm‑10:30 pm |
| Tuesday | 12 pm‑3 pm, 5 pm‑10:30 pm |
| Wednesday | 12 pm‑3 pm, 5 pm‑10:30 pm |
| Thursday | 12 pm‑3 pm, 5 pm‑10:30 pm |
| Friday | 12 pm‑3 pm, 5 pm‑11 pm |
| Saturday | 12 pm‑3 pm, 5 pm‑11 pm |
| Sunday | 12:30 pm‑3:30 pm |
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