LA BODEGA NEGRA, SOHO

On Saturday night Pascal and I went to a Mexican restaurant in Soho to celebrate his birthday for the third time. La Bodega Negra is not your usual restaurant and it is not for the faint hearted. Firstly you have to enter through the facade of a sex shop and once in, you are confronted by a mannequin dressed up as a gimp. 

Maybe not a place to take the in laws?! 

The restaurant itself is lower ground and cave like with erotic art, several booth like tables, pounding music and very low lighting. We were shown to our table and it was so close to the table next to us, I was practically sitting on my neighbour's lap! We ordered some drinks and perused the menu - this wasn't as easy as it sounds as it is so dark you can barely read the menu and the music was so loud in order to communicate with Pascal, we had to SHOUT!

I took control and went ahead and ordered and the food started coming pretty quickly. We started with some sunflower toastados with guacamole. These were really good - chunky guacamole which was full of flavour.

We then had the quesadilla rustica with four different cheeses, roasted tomato and epazote (whatever that is?) - this is like a four cheese pizza and really really good - it did have a bit of a kick to it but that is to be expected in a Mexican!

My favourite part of the meal were the tacos - we ordered every one - char roasted mushroom with crema mexicana, lamb with drunken salsa, beef beef with salsa comal and soft shell crab with chipotle crema. I adored all of them especially the lamb - my only complaint were they were too small - we could have ordered double. Our table was certainly not big enough for our appetites!!

By this point I had been told off for taking photos with a flash - I felt like I was at school - I did manage to sneak a couple more in though.

Last time we had eaten here I remembered not being impressed by the main courses so we just ordered the one - pork belly with mezcal and salsa verde and pinto beans. I was certainly not disappointed this time, this was one of the best pork dishes I have ever had (even better than mine!), tender and soft yet still with crispy crackling - delicious.

We were tempted to order more tacos but decided to go sweet instead and ordered churros with dulce de leche. These were amazing - the churros was doughy, sugary and warm and the dulce de leche sauce was rich, creamy and sweet. 

We really enjoyed the food and our waitress was very attentive however due to the absolutely deafening music, I don't think we will hurry back. Listening to Nivana at full volume isn't my idea of a relaxing meal, plus I like to talk not shout. It's a shame as I love Mexican food and there aren't an abundance of Mexican restaurants in London. Anyway all in all we had a nice time and I utterly enjoyed the sound of silence when I got home! 

La Bodega Negra

9 Old Compton Street,
London 
W1D 5JF
Tel: 020 7758 4100