(+ One Sunday Roast)
#3 PALADAR
The extremely hip restaurant ‘Paladar’ has been on our radar since it opened in 2018 and after the stingy Runoff management team finally agreed to pay for our meal we recently visited. It has shot up and nabbed the number 3 spot in our countdown. It is probably as close to ‘fine dining’ as you can get in our area, so we suggest doing for a special date. Or if you’re trying to make up with your other half.
Paladar is a Latin American fusion restaurant in St. George’s Circus near Elephant & Castle/Lambeth North. The restaurant doubles as an art space, and on our visit featured work by Ecuadorean artist Ulises Valarezo. The crowd is more West End chic than we would expect in these parts, and in fact we sat next to ‘Leave a Light On’ pop star Tom Walker and loads of people laughing while flicking their hair.
Pork Belly 
Lettuce Hearts
The menu is, you guessed it, sharing plates and five items served two people just fine. We were served by a precise, chirpy and professionally drilled service staff who knew quite a bit about what they were serving and actually spoke Spanish to one another. Highlights were texture rich tuna tartare tostadas accompanied by a fragrant salsa which reminded us ever so slightly of a delicious, yet expensive, hand soap. The pork belly tacos had an interesting Chinese crispy duck sticky quality and were wrapped in lettuce leaves as opposed to a tortilla. On the veggie front, we enjoyed compelling, deep fried tapioca croquettes which were savory but just verging on being sweet. We also indulged on chargrilled lettuce hearts with a nut based topping.
With a bottle of wine the total bill came to £84 which is by no means cheap but it will teach the management team a thing or two before they tell us that we’re not worth the dosh. Money well spent even if you don’t get the chance to sit next to a minor pop star in a bobble hat.
Paladar also sell South American wines in their adjacent wine shop. We enjoyed a divine £26 Montes Colchagua Valley Merlot which was less than a tenner more than was going in the shop.
