A taste of home for Jose

Portuguese restaurants and pastelaria (pastry shops) in London have tended to cluster within their own communities, notably in Stockwell and Golborne Road. The long-serving O Fado and Carevela created a singular outpost in Beauchamp Place, but only O Fado survives, its décor and menu recently having had a wash and brush-up.

A cuisine described as "contemporary Portuguese" has now come to King's Road in the shape of Tugga, a word that is used about the nationals in the way we might say Brit. Apparently modern Portuguese restaurants are currently all the go in Lisbon and Oporto, and Tugga chef Miguel Castro e Silva owns one of them in Oporto - The Bull and Bear, a name you and I might think more suited to an English pub.

As at nearly every new restaurant, Tugga's debut was delayed and my visit coincided with a soft opening week. I like these weeks, where food is charged at half price. The problem is, it always seems about the right sum to pay, but regular menu prices are not exorbitant, with first courses at £3.50-£7.50 and main courses at £12-£14 on the menu we were given. In addition, there is a list of Petiscos which is Portuguese for tapas.

We waded into these, happy in the knowledge that the bill could not escalate too dramatically. Pickled Bizaro pig's ears was a bowl of chopped, jellied meat with nice crunchy, cartilaginous texture in a light parsley vinaigrette.

Quail in a sour marinade of carrots and onions - a sort of escabèche - was good and most of the bird was boned, making it easy to share. Octopus Galicia style, one charred large tentacle drizzled with olive oil, exhibited attractively plain presentation.

One of the best things about cured ham, also from Bizaro, was that there was lots of it for £4.50 - or that's £9 to you now that hard pricing has started.

First courses included an excellent cream of chick pea swirled with olive oil in which flakes of salt cod went almost un-noticed until you bit into them, thereby releasing a punchy hit in an otherwise docile thin purée. Black pudding redolent with spice lacked the cubes of fat usually associated with this blood sausage and came across as rather one-note and spongy.

It was apparent from watching frenzied action behind the bar, where food was plated or received, that the pressure of an almost full room was flummoxing the kitchen. It might have been the explanation for dull and repetitive vegetables accompanying the various main courses tried. Or maybe the Portuguese don't much care for vegetables.

Poussin was unappealingly sweet, the braised lamb shank with chick peas reminded me of that Castilian stew ropa vieja that translates as old clothes, but the duck with a thatch of potatoes and the sirloin steak were fine.

Fans of pasteis de nata, egg custard tarts that you can find at Lisboa Patisserie and elsewhere, will expect a lot from the baked desserts. Tugga delivered with an orange pudding, a sort of flan, with orange glaze and a wonderful chocolate cake with dark, friable crust. Iberian wines are well chosen and reasonably marked-up. Service is charming.