A well-seasoned joint

In the days when I regularly reviewed restaurants I got to the point of never needing to look another meal in the face. Being a guest reviewer, however, is a treat. Salt Yard, a tapas bar and restaurant which has been open since April, is a find of my daughter's - the owners are friends of hers.

It is unpretentious, personal, friendly, cheap to medium-priced, depending on how many tapas you eat, popular (you need to book) and largely devoid of grey-haired oldsters. The food is a mix of Italian and Spanish and the sharing dishes range far and wide. Head chef is Brian Villahermosa, with past experience at The Gore and Isola.

The restaurant takes its name, loosely, from the hams of its charcouterie. Jamon Iberico from Jabugo and San Daniele are specialities and deliciously evocative of their Mediterranean homeland.

The main eating area is downstairs. On the ground floor the bar is the thing - open to the street, with plenty of action. The walls are wine-red, there's one silver-leaf mirror and a few tables, but the point is the decorative swirl of young drinkers and bar-snack eaters, all out for a good time.

Unlike my booking experiences with The Cinnamon Club, we couldn't have been made more truly welcome. The two young owners, Sanja Morris and Simon Mullins, have put their heart into the venture, worked the hours, done the travelling and research, and have a love and understanding of food.

We sat in a downstairs booth. The furniture is simple: bare-bone leather chairs, plain walls with candle brackets and stylish naked filament lights.

We had glasses of prosecco and a charcouterie board while ordering. The wines are exclusively Spanish and Italian. Our sharing dishes included a confit of Gloucester Old Spot pork belly with rosemary and cannellini beans, chargrilled, chilli-flecked squid, tuna carpaccio with baby broad beans and slow-roasted lamb. We muddled them all up and threw in some rocketand-Parmesan salad and a chunk of tortilla for good measure. The lamb could have been hotter.

You have to go for the puddings. My daughter and I gorged on Calasparra rice pudding brûlée with home-made rhubarb ice cream and soft chocolate cake - the latter an indulgence not to be spurned. Our meal for four, with wine, came to £120, which seemed like perfectly reasonable value.

Salt Yard, 54 Goodge Street, W1. Tel 020 7637 0657. Service is included in the bill at 10 per cent.

Salt Yard
Goodge Street, London, W1T 4NA