I was curious about Bentley Restaurant & Bar. It’s one of the latest restaurants with a bit of a buzz about it, and one of those places that only has two seatings, you can either dine at 6.30pm or 8.30pm. For me, when it used to be a bar it wasn’t anything to particularly write home about but when the restaurant came about in its current incarnation, suddenly people were.

It’s very darkly lit with a tree and foliage theme with leaves cut out of the red perspex partitions and a cut out “tree” on the side of the wall. We contemplate the menu, there’s a range of tapas as well as an a la carte entree and main section. I opt for two entrees while Gina opts for an entree to be made into a main size and Teena orders a main.

While we are waiting, the bread with olive oil, not something I usually partake of, is demolished by yours truly as it is absolutely scrumptious. And before you ask, as I would, if they gave us only two slices for the three of us, they did not, the two slices above were my share

Chickpea chips $8

We ordered the chickpea chips as we had no idea what to expect. Once we had done so, I had flashbacks to the awful polenta chips I had eaten at Icebergs but thankfully these aren’t anything like those. They’re hot and crunchy with a dried chickpea exterior resembling semolina or polenta. The Hummous is very creamy, much more creamy than Hummous usually is and they’re quite good and restorative in the chest in the way that hot chips are in the cold.

Basil Pudding with sweetcorn puree, zucchini flower and asparagus $18

My basil pudding (and the pork following) reminds me of the food that I had at Foliage in London (so resembled it that I had a look at the Bentley website to see where the chef had previously worked, not at Foliage it turns out). It’s all pretty little pieces artistically put together with a brush of sauce or a tangle of delicate leaves placed just so, where everything must be eaten together. The basil pudding cleverly resembles broccoli florets and it’s a melange of flavours where everything does mould together nicely and quite unusual at that. However I am a little disappointed that the zucchini flower, one of my favourite ingredients is simply two petals. Deep fried stuffed zucchini flowers are heaven on earth and I was looking forward to some.

Caramelised Pork Cheek with beetroot and smoked salmon ravioli $23

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Tapas Brindisa can be intimidating. Intimidating in that it is ALWAYS crowded, no matter what time you go past and that unless you flag down the manager, you’ll stand virtually ignored, a persona non grata. Brindisa doesn’t take reservations and given the roaring trade, it doesn’t need to. Reservations would simply hold up the process. I adore Spanish food and my gut instinct tells that it is taking over the world (or at least my little part of it). And the thing that has my tastebuds drooling is the idea of eating Jamón ibérico de Bellota, the Wagyu of pork where in Spain or Portugal Black Iberian pigs are raised on a diet of acorns and allowed to roam free in oak forests. The ham is then cured for up to 36 months in the fresh mountain air.

We’re back at Tapas Brindisa at dinner time after being the ignored subjects mentioned above at lunch time when people and plates were whizzing past at a furious speed and our presence caused not a single soul to look our way. We didn’t realise that we needed to get the attention of the manager so we stood there for 10 minutes before leaving as we realised that a table would not be forthcoming, not just because of the huge queue of people already waiting.

Tonight, fortified by false courage, I steel myself and approach the manager thinking that I’ll be dismissed but he gives a broad smile and apologises that there aren’t any table available but that one should be in about 45 minutes so we can come back in 30 minutes. We go for a walk around and take a peek at Neal’s Yard (who have a huge shower running in their store, presumably for moisture to aid in the cheesemaking process) and a Paul Smith store nearby before we return 30 minutes later. There isn’t a table yet although the manager tries to get another table outside set up for us. We wait outside as inside is chaos with bodies standing, sitting and waiting while waiters weave through them with plates of delicious Spanish Jamón and tapas.

While waiting, we ask the manager what time is good to come by and he says “5.30pm but once it is 6 o’clock, all of the tables are gone. At lunch, maybe 12noon?”. A friend who has been here previously has said that even 12 o’clock is too late, it’s 11.50am or nothing. Once the clock strikes 12, it’s musical chairs. He offers us all drinks on the house (wine or soft) for the wait which is a welcome and charming gesture. A table magically frees itself a few minutes later and we are sitting with our complimentary drinks (a gigantic bottle of sparkling mineral water, a Coke and a Rosé wine).

The prize, a food porn worthy shot of the Jamón ibérico de Bellota (Pata Negra)

We’ve already perused the menu having done so while waiting and we ask the waiter if any of the Jamón ibérico de Bellota (Pata Negra) is available and he smiles broadly as if we’ve said the magic words and says “Pata Negra?” and we nod enthusiastically. He points us to the “Gran reserva Joselito Ham-hand carved” for £20 which we immediately order. We also order the Regional charcuterie selection: Teruel Serrano ham, loin, chorizo and salchichon with bread and olive oil £10; potato, chorizo and pepper omelette with aioli £4.65; Deep fried Monte Enebro goat’s cheese with orange blossom honey £6.65 and for good measure, some spicy toasted broad beans £1.

Spicy toasted broad beans £1

The first to arrive is the small plate of spicy toasted broad beans, the beans dried and crispy with a liberal sprinkling of spice powder. They’re like good quality chips.

Gran reserva Joselito Ham-hand carved £20

Our prize, the Jamón ibérico de Bellota arrives next, hand carved and arranged on a plate. I’m surprised at how much we get, from what I’ve seen you get 3-4 slices of it in Australia for about $30 but this looks like more. Tasting it, it’s smooth and intensely flavoursome, a bit like a meat jerky but please don’t let that description put you off, it’s much, much better of course. I mean more as a testament to the intensity of the flavour.

Regional charcuterie selection: Teruel Serrano ham, loin, chorizo and salchichon with bread and olive oil £10

Our regional selection plate is certainly impressive and causes passing pedestrians to almost bump into each other and drool over our table. There is loin (the pale slices), chorizo (thinly sliced rounds), salchichon (another speckled sausage) and Serrano ham, the paler version of the Jamón ibérico de Bellota.

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My husband is what I affectionately refer to as a “fruit bat”. He is simply mad for the stuff, in dried or fresh form, his request for Christmas every year is a fruit basket and a fruit cake. And forget eating a dainty slice with tea, the whole cake can and has been consumed in less than a day. We recently went to a lunch after friend’s baby’s baptism and they brought out a lovely home made fruit cake. I placed a firm hand on his arm and said “NO honey, leave some for everyone else” and like a puppy chastised he looked sheepish and sank back down in his chair. I’m sure he had dreams of taking that cake and running away with it.

I had originally bought him the jar of mincemeat for him to eat with a spoon and a grin on his face but I forgot about it in the cupboard. And lucky I did as I needed it to whip up a quick fruit cake. Nigella’s recipe is a ludicrously easy fruit cake at that that you could possibly whip up with what you have in the cupboard plus a jar of mincemeat (I’m not assuming everyone has mincemeat in their cupboard). I looked at another of Nigella’s recipes and it required 2 weeks of soaking that I didn’t have so this was an easy decision. The cake itself is not exactly like a fruit cake in look although a bite into it and it does taste very fruit cakey. I didn’t find that there wasn’t quite enough fruit so I’d suggest adding either more mincemeat or soaking some fruit briefly to plump it up and then adding it in. Still, for the amount of effort, it’s a pretty good cake. I loved the look of Nigella’s Jewelled cupcakes so I used her cues for decorating it.

It was also a good choice to take with us on the long 6 hour drive to the snow for his birthday as it transports easily and is a “hardy” choice (i.e. no delicate layers, no cream). Other fantastic goodies that were cooked up to stave off the Winter chills were Swedish Mulled Wine by my Sister in Law and Finnish Split pea soup by my Mother in Law. I couldn’t have asked for better or more delicious ways to warm up after a day in the snow.

I intersperse the recipes with some photos of the snowfall-apparently, this years snowfall was the best in five years!

Ribena Snow Cone using fresh powdery snow!

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