As I was sat on the can this afternoon, ruminating ruefully over yesterday’s dinner at Cantina Laredo my recurring thought was the wish it had been deposited straight from plate to bowl without using me as a conduit.
Cantina Laredo refers to itself as a ‘Gourmet Mexican restaurant’ but having to announce the quality level of its cuisine in advance is like the grisly but pretentious roadside caf I recall near Edinburgh billing itself as ‘not fast food’ – the dining experience itself being an insufficient indicator of such aspiration. Perhaps this American chain restaurant can be considered gourmet in Huntsville, Alabama or even on the one street in Covent Garden that doesn’t feature an Aberdeen Steakhouse, but it’s pushing my definition.
Things got off to a bad start as the Tequila matching menu I thought I had been invited to feature in my Urban Junkies column didn’t actually exist. There is however a single evening this month, I forget when, fatuously devoted to pairing Margaritas to dishes. The selection of Tequilas I requested to try (in an amateur attempt to do our own matching) were all served with a lime wedge and salt-encrusted rim – including the aged Anejo and Reposado (!?), to ‘shoot’ one assumes. ‘Company policy’ was the shrugged response to my bemusement.
On to the ‘gourmet’ Mexican cuisine: Apart from the Guacamole, made at the table, which was just about adequate tasting and at least demonstrably fresh, the Filet de Arbol and mole, ‘a speciality of the house’ (but speciality what? Not food surely?!) were deeply unappetising at best. I could see my companion, recently returned from a gruelling tour at the sharp end of Afghanistan, thinking wistfully of cold ration packs and roast goat cartilage in the hills. We left at this point, and as the service had been so friendly and efficient I nearly offered to pay, or at least tip – but I needed my change to buy Pork Scratchings at the Lamb and Flag nearby.
Cantina Laredo
10 Upper St Martin’s Lane
St Martin’s Courtyard
London
WC2H 9FB
Ruminations from the porcelain throne
As I was sat on the can this afternoon, ruminating ruefully over yesterday’s dinner at Cantina Laredo my recurring thought was the wish it had been deposited straight from plate to bowl without using me as a conduit.
Cantina Laredo refers to itself as a ‘Gourmet Mexican restaurant’ but having to announce the quality level of its cuisine in advance is like the grisly but pretentious roadside caf I recall near Edinburgh billing itself as ‘not fast food’ – the dining experience itself being an insufficient indicator of such aspiration. Perhaps this American chain restaurant can be considered gourmet in Huntsville, Alabama or even on the one street in Covent Garden that doesn’t feature an Aberdeen Steakhouse, but it’s pushing my definition.
Things got off to a bad start as the Tequila matching menu I thought I had been invited to feature in my Urban Junkies column didn’t actually exist. There is however a single evening this month, I forget when, fatuously devoted to pairing Margaritas to dishes. The selection of Tequilas I requested to try (in an amateur attempt to do our own matching) were all served with a lime wedge and salt-encrusted rim – including the aged Anejo and Reposado (!?), to ‘shoot’ one assumes. ‘Company policy’ was the shrugged response to my bemusement.
On to the ‘gourmet’ Mexican cuisine: Apart from the Guacamole, made at the table, which was just about adequate tasting and at least demonstrably fresh, the Filet de Arbol and mole, ‘a speciality of the house’ (but speciality what? Not food surely?!) were deeply unappetising at best. I could see my companion, recently returned from a gruelling tour at the sharp end of Afghanistan, thinking wistfully of cold ration packs and roast goat cartilage in the hills. We left at this point, and as the service had been so friendly and efficient I nearly offered to pay, or at least tip – but I needed my change to buy Pork Scratchings at the Lamb and Flag nearby.
Cantina Laredo
10 Upper St Martin’s Lane
St Martin’s Courtyard
London
WC2H 9FB
Previous post: On Asimov’s Tail: “Freeing Muscadet From a Pigeonhole”
Next post: On Tap at Bar Boulud September 7th – 13th
