Cambio De Tercio, London – Spanish Flair

Tags

LONDON, Review, Spanish, Tapas

Cambio de Tercio
163 Old Brompton Rd
London, SW5 OLJ
Tel. 020 7244 8970

Food type: Spanish

Nearest tube: Gloucester Road/ South Kensington

Website: Cambio de Tercio

It has been a while since I last visited Cambio de Tercio. For me, they produce some of the best modern Spanish tapas in London. Easily as good, if not better than the Barrafina chains. Yet for some reason, Michelin have continued to ignore them and yet have seen fit to award stars to Barrafina (why?) and Ametsa. Since my last visit, the restaurant has undergone a renovation and expanded next door, taking over the wine shop. Good news since it was pretty hard to get a table without having to book in advance.

Ultra Smooth ‘4 hours’ Baked Vanilla Custard

Anyways, the decision to have a nice long Sunday lunch here was necessitated by a last minute cancellation by another restaurant. I had booked to dine at Takahashi for lunch but at the 11th hour, and I mean it literally since I received a phone call from the restaurant at 11:30 am, I was informed that they had to cancel our reservation since the restaurant had been flooded by the heavy rain and they had no electricity. By then we were on our way to London and after a quick search online for last minute tables, we ended up at Cambio.

Cambio de Tercio (2nd Visit) – Review

Tags

LONDON, Review, Spanish

Cambio de Tercio
163 Old Brompton Rd
London, SW5 OLJ
Tel. 020 7244 8970

Food type: Spanish

Food rating: 6/10

Nearest tube: Gloucester Road/ South Kensington

Website: Cambio de Tercio

I was honestly supposed to spend all of the bank holiday weekend catching up with my blog but that all went to hell when my friend invited me to stay over in her posh new flat in Canary Wharf. So instead of starring at Microsoft Word, I instead ended up going around London doing everything but blog. At least I managed to get some eating done.

Cambio de Tercio is undoubtedly the best Spanish restaurant in London especially when you are looking for innovative, interesting cooking. Tapas favourites are often given a unique twist or in some cases, a complete makeover without compromising flavour. I was very impressed with my visit last year although there were a few inconsistencies which kept it from being a remarkable meal.

Cambio de Tercio – Review

Tags

Cambio de Tercio, LONDON, Review, Spanish

Cambio de Tercio
163 Old Brompton Rd
London, SW5 OLJ
Tel. 020 7244 8970

Food type: Spanish

Food rating: 5/10

Nearest tube: Gloucester Road/ South Kensington

Website: Cambio de Tercio

To visit Cambio de Tercio for traditional, rustic Spanish cooking would be defeating the whole purpose. If you are looking for a tapas experience try their sister restaurant Tendido Cero down the road. Since its opening as a tapas bar back in 1995, Cambio has shifted its focus towards neuva-cocina. Although you will still find traditional dishes here, they are given a modern intepretation. Nevertheless, the British public seems to have embraced this change of direction with open arms – evident by the restaurant consistently being packed out, and numerous walk-ins having to be turned away. It has also received much praise by critics, culminating in the award of the prestigious ‘Premios alimentos de España’ in 2003 for the Best spanish restaurant outside Spain. (The award is proudly displayed in the restaurant)

We arrived for our 6.30 pm booking to an empty restaurant. The restaurant clearly does not shy away from its origins, with clear emphasis being put on the Spanish flag – evident by the colours in the restaurant. If that does not transport you to Spain, the gentle guitar music playing in the background will. Various odd paintings, available for purchase if you so wish to, by Luis Canizares are feature. Some of these paintings do embrace the natural form of a woman, so if you are bringing your children along it is worth taking note.

The menu has an odd Spanish flavour to it…

Jamon Iberico, tempting a few diners no doubt…