CityBird: De La Panza

In my office, dry January was still continuing with muted enthusiasm until we hit the first weekend of 2012. By Friday, the original willpower had petered out to a pitiful splutter, and by the time I arrived at De La Panza late Saturday night, I’d given up with this ridiculous resolution completely.

Recently-opened Argentine restaurant De La Panza, on Southgate Road in De Beauvoir (pronounced ‘de beaver’, apparently), is home to some of the best red wine north of the City, as well as some of the best steak outside of South America. Caveat: it’s not strictly in the Square Mile, but close enough for a cheeky long, Malbec-fuelled lunch or cosy tête-à-tête.

When IT guy rocked up to this self-styled neighbourhood restaurant, we were dribbling out the sides of our mouths. One bottle of the 2007 Mendel Malbec down, and our nerves had tempered slightly. (If there’s one good thing about 10 days of dry January, it’s that even the sniff of booze will succeed in giving you wine legs.) The wine list is small, but perfectly formed – a bottle of house red will set you back only £15, and a bottle of top-range Cab Sav only £45.

We’d barely taken a sip of the wine before a sizzling dish of baked provolone cheese (me) and a warming fish soup (IT guy) arrived. The cheese is quite literally to die for (literally? - ed). A hefty chunk of lomo fillet steak - unfortunately, even in the interests of ‘trying’ the menu, we couldn’t resist what DLP does best: fillet steak) – was cooked to perfection. With a dab of chimichuri and some roasted vegetables on the side, it’s worth not only giving up the draconian new year diet, but throwing out the book altogether. My advice – finish off with a delicate coffee crème caramel, swathed in dulche de leche. It’s heaven on a plate: and those extra few pounds WILL be worth it.

Time Out guides to Buenos Aires and litre bottles of Argentine beer Quilmes line the walls. There’s no mistaking – this place is the real deal, and it’s close enough to wine and dine a hungry broker without resorting to somewhere better know like Gaucho. Just make sure you wear elasticated trousers first, yeah?

http://www.delapanza.co.uk/