Sabor Criollo

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

The sign outside says this is a 'Latin American' restaurant. This ensures no breaches of the Trades Description laws when the chef pulls dishes from the likes of Peru, Mexico and Colombia into his specials menu. But at the heart of the place is a commitment to Venezuelan cooking. And at the heart of Venezuelan eating is a delicious flat corn bread called arepa. Thick enough to be split in two, it is fluffier than a tortilla and lighter than a naan. Here it is served both with cheese as a starter or stuffed with beef as a main course, and is certainly worth trying. Perhaps team it with chicken or cod fritters as an alternative starter or a main course instead of remarkably sweet and succulent Pabellon Margariteno, a cod dish cooked with no unusual ingredients, but displaying its own unique taste. This tiny basement is decorated in an unabashed style which makes free use of murals, palm thatching and a large fake tree to create something maybe a little like a Caribbean idyll, but more like a jolly spot for some intriguing food at very reasonable prices.

• High point: Glimpses of sunnier climes through food and fake greenery
• Low point: One spoonful of black beans is never enough