Dehesa serves Spanish and Italian food. The menu features charcuterie (pork) and tapas (originating in bar snacks). Tapas bars have made small plates of sharing food into a main meal. Wander south of Oxford Circus station behind Hamlets, near Liberty's and you find this place on the corner. The outside tables are there for smokers but at this time of year in slightly cool October the inside is more tempting. Turn right or left - we had booked a table and were shown to the left.
(The ladies toilets are down a flight of stairs. Individual cubicles have a toilet and a small Villeroy and Boshe basin.
Outside on the wall are bottle labels in frames under spotlights. If you've ever wondered what to do with a favourite wine label, now you know.
The drinks list is comprehensive. I found a reasonably priced sparkling rose Prosecco by the glass. But if you want a whole bottle of an expensive Rioja from a particular grower and a particular year, they have that, too.
I wasn't at first over-excited by the wooden tables so close you had to squeeze through. But I warmed up when I found that underneath the table was a hook for handbags.
This restaurant specialising in charcuterie (pork) and shellfish, at first seemed a bizarre recommendation from a Jewish family. However, we trusted the recommendation and were glad we did, because a group of four of us all loved it.
At first sight the menu seemed to have a lot of shellfish which I cannot eat. But I was able to eat a vegetable starter, a duck main course, and a dessert.
What could I not eat? I am seriously allergic to shellfish. I have had bad reactions to both king prawns and crab. I have had hideously swollen eyelids and lips and throat; I had spots like chicken pox all over my face and head so I nearly tore my hair out. I was violently sick and even after I bought up the food I retched all night, unable to sleep, gasping, my stomach punching me, and dripping saliva down the washbasin toilet and bath. I thought of this as the other three happily ate their shellfish, saying how good it was.
However, the menu, as in most restaurants, told me to let the management know of any allergies. The dish with the caviar looked nice but I was not prepared to risk the prawns. I regretted not asking for the black caviar without the shellfish.
As the next starter had not yet arrived, I asked if I could have any of the ingredients which were not already mixed in. The waiters brought me a small dish of walnuts so I had something to keep me busy and a chance to try the dish. Now I know the serving staff are so obliging, if I go back I'll again ask if I can be given something from any dish containing one ingredient I cannot eat.
Here's a starter we shared. Vegetable in honey. Seriously good.
My main course was duck.
We shared the desserts, two kinds of chocolate desserts, including a dish of the day. Ice cream with fig.
The price was quite reasonable, considering we had had a pre-dinner drink, a three course meal. We felt full but not over-full.
Where is Dehesa Restaurant? Near Oxford Circus station. Turn down a pedestrian side street and you are soon there. It is on a corner.
They have other branches which share some of the dishes but add their own.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
