Eating, @ la mode
Pro An excellent success rate for splendid, well crafted dishes.
Con Aside from the pasta dishes, meat mains dominate.
Pay
€€€
Per Person €27-€35 Shared: 3 small plates, bottle of Ribera, beer, apple cake. Solo Main. Gratis: Olives, limoncello.
El Tenedor offers may be available.
Find
Website Click Menu doesn't appear to be on the website.
ℹ️ Dietary Info Not on menu.
Access Step free to eating area.
In Short
Hopes. Something new?
Reality. It's really pretty darn good.
First Impressions. It's cosy. And lit & decorated just right. Hello, lights on ropes!
USP? A chef exploring his vision.
The offer in three words. Tasty, stylish, modern.
Service! Started off slowly, but warmed up very well.
Friend friendly? A little more V-creativity is an opportunity.
Rating for dating. Absolutely on the money, we were surrounded. Book for 14-F now.
Tip? 10%
Change one thing? Steak dish didn't match up to the mean.
Revisitability. Very good.
Compare & Contrast
Try Bar Amor for similar sensibilities.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Despite initial qualms, Federica is a relaxed, well-intentioned restaurant with smart dishes, polished cooking and an admirable attitude to flavour. Expectations exceeded? Yes. But, we won't lie. Federica by @chefoswaldosanchez, @s a restaurant name, didn't encourage us. Neither did a website determined to not tell you the current food offer. So we're going to refer to Federica by @chefoswaldosanchez as Federica. Principally, because otherwise it's a pain to read. We're here for edible mouthfuls not verbal ones.
So, to the mouthfuls! There were loads of delicious ones, as we had a great dinner, with more than enough positives to a) exceed our expectations and b) give us reason to go back. That's a success, then!
We treated three small plates from the large selection on offer as our starters: beef tartare, tequeños and bao. Eyes open. All hands on deck. This was a 100% hit rate. The tartare is full of flavour, which means, amongst other things, it's been well cut and excellently seasoned. There's a tea spoon of mustard sorbet on top, which was a revelation. I'd have gladly had loads more as it's wonderful. Ice cold hot mustard? That's a winner, Auntie Mary! The chef's Venezuelan origins are evident in the tequeños. Perhaps crunchier than they really need to be, a great mayo combining (a la mode ingredient overload, coming) kimchi and sweet curry comes with them. And we're not going to ignore the attractive a la mode crockery design.
Those small plates come in at around €5-6, so on the give it a go, you never know principle, this steamed bun was a proper fusion success and at a great price. It's an excellent bao (a kind of bao wow wow, you could say), so this is no dog's dinner. It's loaded with an authentically fresh and savoury cochinita pibil, marinated onion garnish included. If you're a meat eater - order it.
Every bunch of silver linings has a cloud somewhere and today's lomo/loin steak was it. This really didn't fly, sadly. It wasn't al punto. it wasn't even well done, but headed towards overdone. Accompanied by a bowl of machine-cut fries and a trio of pimiento padrón, it was, in the end, undone, as lots of other dishes have so much to say for themselves. It needs individualising with some smart, original garnishes. And the cooking's got to be perfect, surrounded by dishes of the standard on offer.
Our other main proves that point about quality control. Delicious fiocchi with cheese, pear and honey was a beautiful dish. A rich sauce, on the verge of being overgarlicked, was fortuitously balanced with sweet cherry tomatoes. Perfectly prepared pasta parcels, lacking leakage, came with an effective pear and cheese and honey filling. While there aren't that many V-dishes on offer, if this is a sample of what there is, they're worth the visit.
The window's full of cakes and Federica has a breakfast menu loaded with them. So, slightly apprehensively at dinner time, we opted for apple cake. Sounding like something from afternoon tea, it had a slightly bitter topping, well-judged acidity in the fruit and, putting all the ingredients together, it managed to be more than the sum of its parts and, ta-dah!, a sponge cake that works as a dessert.
Gratis limoncello finished things off, and is a great example of decent service (including the chef delivering dishes himself which is a nice touch. Things did take a while to get going, but things arrived in good time and were mostly explained well too.
Food ★★★★ Service ★★★ Decor ★★★★
Pro An excellent success rate for splendid, well crafted dishes.
Con Aside from the pasta dishes, meat mains dominate.
Pay
€€€
Per Person €27-€35 Shared: 3 small plates, bottle of Ribera, beer, apple cake. Solo Main. Gratis: Olives, limoncello.
El Tenedor offers may be available.
Find
Website Click Menu doesn't appear to be on the website.
ℹ️ Dietary Info Not on menu.
Access Step free to eating area.
In Short
Hopes. Something new?
Reality. It's really pretty darn good.
First Impressions. It's cosy. And lit & decorated just right. Hello, lights on ropes!
USP? A chef exploring his vision.
The offer in three words. Tasty, stylish, modern.
Service! Started off slowly, but warmed up very well.
Friend friendly? A little more V-creativity is an opportunity.
Rating for dating. Absolutely on the money, we were surrounded. Book for 14-F now.
Tip? 10%
Change one thing? Steak dish didn't match up to the mean.
Revisitability. Very good.
Compare & Contrast
Try Bar Amor for similar sensibilities.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
Despite initial qualms, Federica is a relaxed, well-intentioned restaurant with smart dishes, polished cooking and an admirable attitude to flavour. Expectations exceeded? Yes. But, we won't lie. Federica by @chefoswaldosanchez, @s a restaurant name, didn't encourage us. Neither did a website determined to not tell you the current food offer. So we're going to refer to Federica by @chefoswaldosanchez as Federica. Principally, because otherwise it's a pain to read. We're here for edible mouthfuls not verbal ones.
So, to the mouthfuls! There were loads of delicious ones, as we had a great dinner, with more than enough positives to a) exceed our expectations and b) give us reason to go back. That's a success, then!
We treated three small plates from the large selection on offer as our starters: beef tartare, tequeños and bao. Eyes open. All hands on deck. This was a 100% hit rate. The tartare is full of flavour, which means, amongst other things, it's been well cut and excellently seasoned. There's a tea spoon of mustard sorbet on top, which was a revelation. I'd have gladly had loads more as it's wonderful. Ice cold hot mustard? That's a winner, Auntie Mary! The chef's Venezuelan origins are evident in the tequeños. Perhaps crunchier than they really need to be, a great mayo combining (a la mode ingredient overload, coming) kimchi and sweet curry comes with them. And we're not going to ignore the attractive a la mode crockery design.
Those small plates come in at around €5-6, so on the give it a go, you never know principle, this steamed bun was a proper fusion success and at a great price. It's an excellent bao (a kind of bao wow wow, you could say), so this is no dog's dinner. It's loaded with an authentically fresh and savoury cochinita pibil, marinated onion garnish included. If you're a meat eater - order it.
Every bunch of silver linings has a cloud somewhere and today's lomo/loin steak was it. This really didn't fly, sadly. It wasn't al punto. it wasn't even well done, but headed towards overdone. Accompanied by a bowl of machine-cut fries and a trio of pimiento padrón, it was, in the end, undone, as lots of other dishes have so much to say for themselves. It needs individualising with some smart, original garnishes. And the cooking's got to be perfect, surrounded by dishes of the standard on offer.
Our other main proves that point about quality control. Delicious fiocchi with cheese, pear and honey was a beautiful dish. A rich sauce, on the verge of being overgarlicked, was fortuitously balanced with sweet cherry tomatoes. Perfectly prepared pasta parcels, lacking leakage, came with an effective pear and cheese and honey filling. While there aren't that many V-dishes on offer, if this is a sample of what there is, they're worth the visit.
The window's full of cakes and Federica has a breakfast menu loaded with them. So, slightly apprehensively at dinner time, we opted for apple cake. Sounding like something from afternoon tea, it had a slightly bitter topping, well-judged acidity in the fruit and, putting all the ingredients together, it managed to be more than the sum of its parts and, ta-dah!, a sponge cake that works as a dessert.
Gratis limoncello finished things off, and is a great example of decent service (including the chef delivering dishes himself which is a nice touch. Things did take a while to get going, but things arrived in good time and were mostly explained well too.
Food ★★★★ Service ★★★ Decor ★★★★
