Cafe Ikon

Ali Ogilvie (12 May 2006)

I visited this restaurant with a friend for a pre theatre dinner recently, it is only a 5 minute walk from the Rep through the ICC building and across the lovely, rejuvenated canal area. It was so nice to go to an authentically Spanish restaurant and the food did not fail to impress.

Arriving early for dinner we had the place to ourselves for the first half hour or so and ordered some drinks. The staff who served us were Spanish and you got the feeling from the Spanish/English menu that care had been taken to be as true to Spanish cuisine as possible. I had recently been to a tapas bar in Seville and was pleasantly surprised to see some of the same dishes on Ikon's menu.

My friend and I both chose a meat dish and then decided to share some patatas bravas (roasted potatoes with salsa) and a vegetable dish of runner beans, onions and pine nuts. I went for chicken cooked in a red pepper sauce and my friend plumped for mussels and prawns, both of us found our food absolutely delicious!

It was a shame that we were in something of a rush to get to the theatre because its the kind of place where you could quite happily spend hours and the food is exactly right for lingering over and enjoying. Indeed, a table of 7 or so women had come in as we were leaving and had a selection of about 15 dishes to pick at which looked amazing!

We had 2 alcoholic drinks each, 4 tapas dishes and 2 coffees and the bill came to approx £35. Good value for money, especially as the food was so tasty! Will definitely visit again, hopefully with more time on my hands, next time!

Jean (24 November 2004)

Ate some fantastic tapas at this restaurant although I would have liked to have been able to discuss the menu with the waiter.