Making a mess at Meson

This review was first published in November 2001

There's an authentically Iberian vibe here: it's bustling, smokey and nicely unreconstructed decor-wise. Harassed-looking waiters wear black waistcoats; there's a massive paella beside a hot-plate on which fish are put to sizzle; a handsome haunch of jamon serrano sits on the bar.

Given its location in Spitalfields Market, it also offers fantastic people-watching opportunities on a Sunday when both market and restaurant are heaving with loons and smoothies, groovers and crusties, tourists, fashion victims and the shellsuited. So it's truly disappointing the food is so awesomely bad.

We resorted to playing 'what's the worst dish' with our tapas. Even the idiot-proof - chorizo in red wine - was hashed: simultaneously dry and greasy, the slices of sausage overcooked into rubberiness and rendering an unpleasant, mouthcoating ooze of fat.

Gambas in ajillo - not rocket science - tasted of nothing: no garlic, no chilli and certainly no prawns. It was like one of those arcane Chinese dishes which are exercises in pure texture, in this case more rubber. Paella was stodgy, featuring aged-looking peas and beans, shrivelled mussels and squid the texture of elastic bands.

It was a dish which had long since given up the will to live. Alb¤ndigas were sub-Campbell's meatballs, oversalted and made from poorquality meat. Deep-fried mushrooms stuffed with pork were leaden bombs of muddy tastelessness; they won the award.

Meson Los Barriles Numero Uno
Lamb Street, London, E1 6EA