A Portuguese pleasure

A sign outside the Cadogan Arms pub on Chelsea's King's Road informs potential customers that those inside are watching Big Brother Live and drinking flavoured Malibu. I wouldn't have advised the management to be so publicly rude about its clientele, but it does simplify the decision-making process for the rest of us.

Happily there are an increasing number of quality venues on the King's Road these days, and a new place, a few doors down from the Cadogan Arms, is already shaping up nicely. Tugga is a bar and restaurant operation specialising in contemporary Portuguese cuisine. It is staffed for the most part by friendly young Portuguese boys and girls and is the concept of four Portuguese chaps who, according to the press release, grew up in a place called O'Porto (sic).

The place occupies a double shop unit on the site of what was the upmarket pizzeria Spiga, has a cafe bar on the right of the building, a restaurant to the left and a long, sexy lounge bar in the basement. On the odd occasion I've visited the basement, it's been packed with pretty young things doing what pretty young things do best to the DJ-driven music system.

The ground floor is a more sedentary affair, and the best place for anyone over 22 (age, not IQ) to fully appreciate the food and drink offering, despite the psychedelic wallpaper. They have Super Bock beer (popular with the Portuguese) on draught, and bottles of Super Bock Lime - I guess their equivalent of an alcopop.

For some reason they've divided the wine list into the the municipal-sounding regions of North, Centre and South - oenophiles would prefer the regions of Douro, D"o and Bairrada, Alentejo and Ribatejo.

The wines aren't cheap - I know they've had to come a long way, but £15.50 for the cheapest white, a 2004 Monte Velho, and £16.50 for the cheapest red, a 2000 Cado Douro, seems a little steep. Prices quickly accelerate into the £20 and above mark.

Cocktails also carry Chelsea prices, starting at £7.50 and with many at the £8 and £8.50 mark. The list is primarily made up of contemporary interpretations of classic drinks (the Saga Cosmo uses lime and cranberry juices as in a regular Cosmo, but with cachaca and Grand Marnier rather than vodka), and bespoke creations (the Chelsea Diva is a mix of vodka, vanilla sugar, dark crème de cacao, butterscotch schnapps and fresh chocolate). You'd need a very catholic palate to appreciate many of these drinks.

The plates of pesticos (tapas) are good, and I'll definitely go back for the cod and chickpea salad, tuna and black-eyed beans, Pata Negra ham and grilled sausages. I might give the pickled Bizaro pig's ear a miss, though.