Review: Cambio De Tercio, Spanish in the Smoke
Friday, September 26th, 2008, posted in: London Restaurant Reviews, Spanish
by Kang L.On Twitter, I said...
- The griddle lines have formed... http://t.co/5I7AH0Og 6 hrs ago
- 400g of prime USDA NY strip , and 300g of prime USDA ribeye. Yeah baby. I missed this while in Asia. http://t.co/0GgmIGRE 7 hrs ago
- @foodbymark mate Box of unwanted iberico ham bits/ends from selfridges..£1.68. http://t.co/UKUjZdDl 7 hrs ago
- Tonight. Prime USDa rib eye and NY strip. Fuckin hell. Marbling is awesome in this week's stock. I hear Rumours o http://t.co/aRQhhFIb 9 hrs ago
- @Xsagaroth haha. Well not napping but gonna get some osheas beef for dinner now 10 hrs ago
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I’m doing things slightly different today.
Crispy fried calamaries, sliced for convenience, dressed with black squid ink and garnished with lime. Simple, effective, appetising. By now, I’m ready for oxtail and apple foam.
Seven reviews in search of that dish, the question must have crossed your mind: What is London Eater’s absolute favorite?
It’s time I address that question. My favorite dish might be a japanese-peruvian recipe, but if I had to choose one place…
West London in Spain
My first brush with Spanish food was a nice little eatery called Cafe Espana on Old Compton Street in Soho. It was there, I was first introduced to tapas, sangrias and paellas. I have this friend who was fascinated by Spanish culture; she loved the food, the language, the movies, the men (sorry, I had to be cheeky).
While she gawked at everything else, I savoured the garlic chicken casserole and patatas bravas. the Spanish indeed eat well and I was converted.
Good things come in small sizes
Tapas are small dishes to share. They come in the cold varieties, ham & olives and also the hot ones, fish in sauce, chicken in garlic, you get the picture.
As with all things anglicised, some of it kind of gets lost in translation. I’m told that in Spain, the tapas concept is completely different to what we have over here. In Spain, its more like bar nibbles to compliment the drinking. We have roasted peanuts, they have calamaries, olives and warm bread.
Over here, UK tapas is a full blown cuisine. Faux-cuisine, unauthentic, in-genuine, call it what you like, for me there’s only good food and lousy food.
The setup
It’s a lovely space, I go on about a restaurant having soul alot, this place is kind of where that started.
The moment you enter the restaurant, it’s like you’ve stepped into another world. The vibrant walls are decorated with beautifully striking portraits complete with Spanish flair. The staff whizz around the restaurant with enthusiasm and vigor. Lowly-lit, candles, black wooden doors and a well-dressed service. It’s abit like showing up for a west end show where the ambiance gushes out to you.
If you can, ask for a table right at the back. The back tables are overseen by a skylight which adds to the atmosphere.
Menu Speak
The a la carte is separated into the tapas section, which doubles as appetisers, and a more traditional mains section. All the mains can be ordered as a tapas, which is basically a half portion for half the price.
I would say food here is quite progressive, however it builds on classical spanish dishes. Kind of like a cool remake of a classic movie, think Ocean’s Eleven. The mainstays are premium ingredients with big flavours. They include croquettes with a bechamel sauce and made with fine spanish ham, lightly fried calamaries sometimes with a whipped garlic mayo, slow cooked and then caramlised ox-tail, hake with cockles & mussels and also a very nicely roasted fillet of beef.
One thing to note is that the food is regularly updated to reflect the latest ‘trends’ in the industry. For instance, there was a time last year where it was the craze to do away with light sauces and bring in foams (more on this later on). Though I tend to think of them as constantly evolving to fine-tune their recipes. It’s like an artist slowly adding brush strokes to his masterpiece in an never ending quest for perfection.
If there’s such a thing as perfection.
I’ve had enough poetic gloss, its time to eat
I took my mate Jon (again) and we decided to go tapas style. I’m a big fan of tasters & sampling. It lets me discover without stuffing myself silly. Correction, I still stuff myself silly but with more variety.
This actually brings my attention to Jason Atherton’s Maze, which I think, is similar to Cambio. But that is for another meal and another post.
The first dish were the croquettes, deep fried with serrano ham and bechamel. It is served with a red tomato paste. The pictures don’t do it justice, its gently deep-fried, but really crispy. The filling made me go weak. I always say balance of flavours is key to any great dish. Cambio is all about balance. It’s savoury, appetising, but not too salty and at the same time, everything is smooth, just so creamy and smooth. Not bloaty creamy, but light gentle creamy.
That’s one thing about great chefs, they can make simple food smooth. If you’ve had great food you will know what I mean. The moment it hits your lips, everything feels just right.
The sweet spot
Char-grilled octopus is nicely flamed to give that smokey taste, wonderfully tender yet bouncy at the same time. However, the best part of the dish:
The potato puree.
It marries nicely and compliments the octopussy (it is not a typo) flavour with stunning results.
Think blended potatoes, so fine that its a consistent paste. But its so well binded together that it has the texture of a solid mash, with the fluidity of double cream. I know it sounds abit ridiculous, but it really is that good. It’s just the way the chef pairs and compliments flavour upon flavour, like building a house of cards, delicately balanced, when it all comes together in harmony, it’s like opera. Symphonic and totally edible. Finished off with olive oil and sweet paprika, ladies and gentlemen:
This is the dish.
Foaming it
Next on the list was caramilsed oxtail with fresh green apples and apple foam.
Posted in: London Restaurant Reviews, Spanish

















Holy crap that looks absolutely stunning. Definitely beats my take-away kebab last night….
I’m really going to need to go back through your older posts to get some good restaurant recommendations. That one looks a bit pricy for me but would be a nice treat and I really do love Spanish food. The octopus and potato puree looked amazing, as did the calamari. Mmmm… drooling.
Meaghan,
Yup you must try this place, well, you read my review, its my fav
[...] a review of Cambio De Tercio, serving modern spanish food in west london… and my favorite restaurant of all time. This [...]
This place looks simply amazing–beautiful presentation, delicious and inventive flavor profiles, creative ideas abound! Thanks for sharing, I only wish I could actually taste the food you’ve described…chalk up another reason to make a trip to London sometime soon!
Emily, yes you must come! If you ever do, look me up, there are somany nice places I can take you to eat out at, the only limit is the deepness of your pockets and the side of your tummy
though i think for foodies like us, the latter is not a problem
[...] One in particular, and one of the first London foodie blogs I started to follow, is Kang at London Eater. In one of the first times I stumbled upon the London Eater blog, I discovered one of their quite professionally done restaurant reviews and was pretty much hooked (it was for Spanish tapas restaurant Cambio De Tercio). [...]
[...] of you will know that my favourite eatery in the city is a Spanish place called cambio de tercio, which I reviewed not too long ago. To quote myself ( sounds abit weird reading it back to [...]
[...] Everybody has a soft spot for “the one” . Cambio is my one. Aside from my old uni tuition fees, this is the single other institution to which I’ve given most of my money to. I love them because the walls are adorned with striking abstract nouveau matador portraits, I love them because they char-grill the octopus and lay it on top of paprika seasoned potato puree, I love them because the oxtail is slow cooked till the meat falls apart, I love the overly intrusive waiters, I love them because every single person whom I’ve recommended to eat here has agreed, it is great. However, this love is completely and utterly conditional, if you fail me in ‘09, I’m never coming back again…. until then, Cambio rocks. Full review here. [...]
[...] just had the meal of your life at Cambio de Tercio, it’s a fine Spanish restaurant. On their business card, they leave you a link to read the [...]
[...] If you must eat out, then go to my all time favourite restaurant, it serves modern Spanish food, everything tastes amazing, the low lights, dark walls and white table cloths are really moody. It’s not too pricy (£50pp I’d say) , staff are friendly, I could go on and on… I visit at least once every quarter and the last time (twice) I did a Valentine’s here, the night ended really well. Full review here. [...]
[...] Cambio De Tercio (Modern Spanish) £45 [...]
[...] Cambio De Tercio (Modern Spanish) £45 pp (Down [...]
[...] walk away a happy camper. In London, I have already established my favourite Spanish spot – Cambio De Tercio, (go there it’s good) – and ironically enough my eating schedule of late has excluded [...]
[...] didn’t hesitate writing up Cambio (it was my seventh) and as cringe-worthy as it was, here is a link to the first write-up. Please don’t read it. But in case you do, you’ll find that the [...]