Up in flames
Arros QD (Fitzrovia)
RESTAURANTS • FOUND Table
The Backstory: Spanish chef Quique Dacosta is best known for his eponymous tasting menu spot in Denia, on the Costa Blanca. But London has the next best thing: Arros QD, his swanky, multi-space restaurant serving wood-fired Valencian paella, grilled meats and fish. As a bonus, last month saw a new opening:
Fuego Bar, a dark, sexy cocktail bar set inside Arros QD.
The Experience: Through easily-missed glass doors on Eastcastle St, Fuego Bar is on the left, serving smoke-infused cocktails and bar snacks like Dacosta’s signature cheese stones, punchy mouthfuls of manchego and parmesan cream made to look like glossy pebbles. To the right is the main restaurant, at the heart of which is a long counter facing a six-metre stove with a state-of-the-art extraction system.
The specialty is rice, including a classic Valencian paella of chicken, rabbit, beans and rosemary, with artichokes for a non-traditional but welcome touch. It’s excellent, but mushroom rice with truffle cream is even better, with meaty King oyster and winter chanterelles poking out of the thin layer of rice, just below which is its caramelised ‘socarrat’ bottom. Txangurro rice is the one to impress guests, with its crab shell full of brown and white crabmeat and kimchi foam for a Korean twist.
Beyond the rice, a highlight is the acorn-fed Presa Ibérica pork shoulder, pink and tender on the inside and blackened on the outside with leek ashes. Valencian kale salad arrives as a ring of leaves and citrus chunks that are mixed at the table into a clear jelly of tomatoes, a refreshing side alongside smoky rice and meat. Finish it all with a whole Basque cheesecake made with pungent Gorgonzola, just sweet enough to counteract the tang.
Why It’s FOUND: Opened to fanfare in mid-2019, Arros QD has since gone under the radar, but it’s worth a visit for some of the best rice in London – and for its swanky new bar. –Laura Price
→ Arros QD (Fitzrovia) • 64 Eastcastle St • Mon-Thu 12-1030p, Fri-Sat 12-11p, Sun 1230-5p • Book.