Fonda, London: ‘An exuberantly good meal’: restaurant review
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This new Mexican restaurant serves up regional dishes so well crafted that conversation stops. Fonda, 12 Heddon Street, London W1B 4BZ. Starters and small. plates £7-£14, larger plates £23-£29, desserts £6-£11, wines from £39. At Fonda, a new Mexican restaurant off London’s Regent Street, the staff have vital information and, boy, are they determined to impart it. Usually, speeches about ingredients and the best way to eat your lunch, feel like a nail puncture purposefully engineered to let all the air out of any fun you were hoping to have. Lunch becomes an exam to be passed. Am I doing this right? Will the staff approve? Oh, the social anxiety. Today, however, there is an enthusiasm to the tableside chat and an engrossing level of detail. I’m all in, at least for now. Tell me more.
![[Jay Rayner]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2018/01/11/Jay_Rayner,_L.png?width=75&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
On the table is a stand, custom-designed for the three glazed, ceramic salsa pots that arrive at the start. As each is placed in its holder, like some religious icon brought to the altar, we get the incantation. There is the tart, guacamole-green salsa verde made with fermented gooseberries, pickled jalapenos and Thai chillies. There is the rust-coloured salsa roja made with scotch bonnet and arbol. And there is the standout, the salsa macha, a toasty mess of ground cascabel chilies and sunflower seeds, much like an Asian chilli oil, but with earthier, adult tones. We are invited to experiment; to splodge and dribble as we see fit. At times during lunch, I am reminded of those occasions when I have stood bathed in the nonjudgmental spotlight of my opened fridge, staring at the top shelf which is 90% sticky condiments, and wondering which of them to use on my latest improvised kitchen creation. Our waiter has awarded us a licence to do the same here and decorate and embellish.
![[‘Bathed in a vigorous chilli and butternut squash dressing’: sea trout ceviche.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ea88801c8e697e50bfb14b175d44b876d79812a7/0_175_5616_3370/master/5616.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
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