Rosita and the Sherry Bar

Back in February we decided to try a restaurant I had heard good reviews of, quite close to home on the Northcote Road in Clapham:

Rosita and the Sherry Bar.

We headed to Clapham Junction and walked down the ever popular Northcote Road in search of Rosita's. This is a tapas style Spanish restaurant and sherry bar towards the far end of the road. Most of our dining forays involve trying interesting things and ordering to share, so tapas style eating is right up our street.

We began with the the sherry tasting of three generous sherries. I've never really drunk sherry with a meal before, only ever had it as a 'warm me up' aperitif on cold winter days or a splashed added to soup my mother made. I quite enjoyed it, being an avid white wine drinker myself, I enjoyed the dry aromatic notes of the sherries complimenting the dishes we were about to try.

We ordered a multitude of dishes not quite knowing what they were, but eager to be adventurous.  First to arrive were the aubergine crisps. These were lovely: crisp, light tasting the slightly sweet soft flesh of the aubergine coming through.They were drizzled with a sort of sweet tomoatoey sauce.

Next to arrive were the the boquerones, a favourite of T's. These didn't disappoint!

And then a towering stack of battered calamari. Although large and with a hefty coating of crispy batter, I really enjoyed these as there was enough succulent flesh in the middle.

The restaurant itself is quite lovely with quite a few tables for its size and a lovely looking bar that I would like to come back to and sip on some more sherry!

The next dish, which no longer seems to be on the menu, was a charcoal roasted duck egg with spinach and potato. This again had a great charcoal flavour to go with the richness of the egg.

And next: charcoal roasted squid tentacles: delicious and succulent...

And without realising we had also ordered some more squid, which was tender and juicy. By this stage we were sufficiently satisfied with what turned into quite a seafood feast!

For dessert we shared a home-made chocolate ice cream with fresh orange, a moscatel sherry and espresso.  

We left vowing to buy sherry to enjoy at home and pleased with another restaurant find.

*Many of the dishes that we had appear not to be on the Rosita any longer.

Rosita & The Sherry Bar

124 Northcote Road

London

SW11 6QU

020 7998 9093

http://www.rositasherry.net/

It's cold outside!

And suddenly London plunges into the depths of Winter! Last week I was starting to think we were having a rather mild Winter so far.  Never speak/think too soon! This was the view from my window this morning

And how beautiful are these ice crystals on a loft window 

But with this sudden onset of Arctic temperatures, also comes the realisation that Christmas is near.  Only three working weeks until then! This week I'm throwing a little Christmas Cocktail Party for friends at my house. There will Christmas Sangria, tasty food, festive music and Christmas hats! Details to follow next week.

Have a lovely weekend!

Tim Walker exhibition at Somerset House

A few weeks ago I went with my boyfriend and mom to see an exhibition at Somerset House, Images 36: Best of British Illustration (which has finished now).  While there, we came across the Tim Walker: Story Teller exhibition, and I am so glad we did.  I cannot say I had heard of Tim Walker before seeing the exhibition, but I did recognise a few of the images and realised I had even cut some out of magazines and stuck them in my visual diaries in the past.  His work is mystical, fantastical and theatrical.  Just plain beautiful!  Walker is a fashion photographer and this body of work was images that had been published in notable publications such as British, French, American and Italian Vogue, Vanity Fair, W and The New Yorker among many others. 

But what took this exhibition to another level was the use of the props in the photographs  being displayed along side the images in the gallery.

I highly recommend this exhibition and will be looking out for his work in the future.  The exhibition runs until the 27th January 2013.

The 1st...

So this is the first blog on my new Studio Sketch. I hope for this to be a place for me to collect thoughts and ideas... a visual diary of sorts.