Evening Standard
David Ellis hailed the “beautiful food and fair prices” at a new arrival in a “cool” neighbourhood, which landed in the very week that chancellor Rachel Reeves’s “thuggish budget is playing hell with hospitality”.
The venue, Câv, seems to be “financed by gumption alone” – “as if someone opened The Dover in their garage, using pocket money” – with a business plan that involves inviting chefs for residencies. First up is Tasca, from chef Josh Dallaway and sommelier Sinéad Murdoch, each “a warm, unceremonious presence”, offering Spanish and Portuguese cuisine that embraces the French influence found in Lisbon.
The dishes, most notably seafood and an outstanding black pudding, were all to a high standard, while “an uncommon, aged vinho verde from Casa de Mouraz is marked up barely at all: what sells for £25 in the shop is £39 here. Elsewhere it might be £100.”
David Ellis - 2025-03-30
