Meza at 100 Wardour Street in London’s Soho does a Spanish tapas menu. It’s a big, lively place with a huge almost semi-circular bar running most of the width of it. On a Monday night I got in without booking. I was tempted by the sherry sampler menu, which offered 5 tapas dishes and 5 sherries for £25, but that’s a lot of food (and quite a lot of sherry). Instead I went for their country bread with olive oil – both great. Then came warm octopus with boiled potatoes and paprika, salt cod with a tomato and black olive salad, and grilled mini chorizo with morcilla pie (pork and rice filling). In between all this was a plate of Iberico salchichon, like a salami. That was more than enough for two, taken with a tempranillo Vega del Castillo from Navarre, a 2004 at 13 percent.
It was a good meal with friendly and helpful service, though some people say it can get rather noisy later on, and the service gets spasmodic when it’s really crowded. I thought it rather good. It’s next door to Casa del Habano, so cigars and brandy came to mind. However, I settled instead for a glass of Augustinos from the Cork and Bottle down in Leicester Square.