22 Restaurant in Herne Hill

[wee quinnie]

What's it like? Any thoughts?

[david_carnell]

It's very nice. I've been a few times including to their wine and sherry tasting evenings which are very good value.

I think the food rivals tapas anywhere else in London but prices are on the high side especially for drinks. A couple of sherries and 4 tapas plates will set you back ?50.

Chris the owner is a top bloke and, whilst I've not had it, I hear good things about their Sunday paella.

[MrBen]

I've had Sunday Paella out back once on a crisp, sunny October day and with a nice chilled Albarino and it was great.

I really like it there - agreed on prices being high but it's still a good shout and slightly closer than Angels and Gypsies. Both beat Barcelona in my humble opinion.

[Nero]

I have enjoyed my time there - the food was good, the atmosphere lively, the lighting good and the service good, too, but the prices are too high for a local restaurant, and that puts me off from returning.

[Cassius]

Middling in my opinion. Paella good and tasty but some of the tapas are a bit tired. Would rather go to Angels and Gypsies tbh.

[Sue]

MrBen Wrote:

Both beat

> Barcelona in my humble opinion.

xxxxxx

That wouldn't be difficult :))

[Frankito]

Has anyone ever enjoyed Barcelona (the restaurant)? I went on a date recently and the new other half almost became an instant-ex after suggesting we eat there.. Even my dog doesn't like it and she eats fox poo..

[northlondoner]

Crikey ive always quite enjoyed it at Barcelona. Am I misguided? Seems much like any other tapas joint. Is it the proximity to Forest Hill that bothers people ?

[northlondoner]

Crikey ive always quite enjoyed it at Barcelona. Am I misguided? Seems much like any other tapas joint. Is it the proximity to Forest Hill that bothers people ?

[david_carnell]

Forum majority opinion, with which I agree, is that it's pretty sub standard and bland in tired surroundings that verge on a pastiche.

[*Bob*]

I agree that Barcelona doesn't stack-up against the usual top-crack tapas joints that everyone drones on about when pretending that only they know the taste of true tapas (rolls eyes) but (from a couple of visits) it's perfectly decent and I'd gladly swap it for around a dozen of the crappy eateries that currently festoon 'the lane' - and for some reason are inexplicably busy.

[david_carnell]

*Bob* - I've never even been to Spain so have no idea what "real" tapas is like although I would imagine like most "foreign" foods it is pretty varied both regionally and in terms of quality.

Fortunately I possess tastebuds that can discern that out of three local tapas/Spanish restaurants locally that I can think of, Barcelona is easily the least exciting or interesting. So why go there? It's not even cheap.

But your inverse snobbery will no doubt hearten all those who refuse to use a lisp when ordering the choritho. Plebs.

[*Bob*]

Not really, I'm simply saying that Lordship Lane is full of crap restaurants and I'd swap Barcelona for a dozen of them, because Barcelona is better than a lot of what we have: not in comparison to other top tapas places, but in comparison to what we have.

Not in comparison to other tapas places but in comparison to what we have.

So thats: not in comparison to other tapas place, but "in comparison" to what we have.

Ok, Dave?

[Jah Lush]

I think *Bob* has made a good point here. If Barcelona was down on the strip rather than at the other end of the Lane I'm sure it would be more popular. It would certainly be on a par with the other "crap restaurants" that are constantly full. Having said that, it's down the end of my street and I've not been in since January. I had a good night in there by the way but it's not a regular haunt of mine.

As for 22 I've not been in there at all. I loved it when it was Bolands though and was a regular then.

[david_carnell]

Bobby - name 12 restaurants on Lordship Lane worse than Barcelona. Go.....

[*Bob*]

Actually, it's easier to name the ones that I would actively choose over Barcelona:

Franklins, Palmerston, Indian Mischief. The rest are just 'somewhere to eat'.

I can appreciate that some people seem to have had dismal experiences in B'lona (which of course I don't doubt). I can only speak from personal experience: two visits, quite decent. Maybe we got lucky.

If it was on LL I'd visit it more often than I do the array of dismal 'Indian' eateries, crappy Chinese, dubious French and pointless Italians. And I suspect it would, as Lush says, do pretty well.

[*Bob*]

To clarify (for pedants) I mean of 'on LL' as in 'on the strip'. It is of course, already on LL.

[wee quinnie]

Er...isn't that subjective? I think Hisar is sh!te but eveyrone else on here seems to think it is marvellous.

I am not that keen on anywhere in the Lane. If I had to go anywhere localish for foodieness....my preferred option would be Ganapati.

Anyway, apologies realise I am going off topic here.

BTW - the reason for posting this thread was that I had an invite, but wasn't that keen after looking at the menu.

[Jah Lush]

Says a lot Wee Quinnie, seeing as Ganapati is in Peckham, doesn't say a lot for the restaurants in East Dulwich; which are, mostly run-of-the-mill.

[Frankito]

I lived in Spain for a few years and thus consider myself the expert... Barcelona by Spanish standards is rubbish, insipid, unimaginative and lacking authenticity.. Having said that it has been a few years since I have been there! The memory lives on fresh in my mind..

[Sue]

wee quinnie Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Er...isn't that subjective? I think Hisar is sh!te

> but eveyrone else on here seems to think it is

> marvellous.

>

xxxxxxxxx

Hisar has gone well downhill lately, and I probably wouldn't go there again.

Had always had good meals there before, but the last one I had was - as you say - sh!te, and I felt bad for having recommended it to people.

I think the management changed, or the chef changed, or something - according to one of the waiters at the Dulwich Tandoori, anyway!

Edited for typo

[tallulah71]

Frankito Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Has anyone ever enjoyed Barcelona (the

> restaurant)? I went on a date recently and the new

> other half almost became an instant-ex after

> suggesting we eat there.. Even my dog doesn't like

> it and she eats fox poo..

went there once. Got projectile vomit straight after.

[northlondoner]

Yeah Hisar has gone very average. Used to be great.

[Mick Mac]

Hisar - as Turkish restaurants on Lordhsip Lane go, its about average.

[Asset]

Some regional Spanish doesn't do the lisp thing, e.g in Ibiza - is that Catalan? so they wouldn't say Choritho. I've never been to any of the establishments mentioned but Barcelona looks crap, it's orange ffs