Giggling Squid

We came here for lunch in the first few days after opening. It was pretty busy for a Friday lunchtime but that could be the novelty effect. The tapas menu looked tempting and they offer ‘lunch sets’ which are basically 3 pre-​selected dishes plus rice and the price equates to getting the rice free. We made our own selection and shared 6 dishes: papaya salad, spring rolls, honey duck, salt&pepper squid, chicken satay, wok fried prawns with ginger. It was a mixed bag. The papaya salad was very spicy and too salty with liberal amounts of fish sauce. The spring rolls were tiny and were all pastry and almost no filling. The duck was rubbery and small bits of meat hanging together by fat. The squid was swamped in thick batter and sprinkled with salt & sugar, not pepper. The prawns had a hint of ginger and there were only 5 tiny prawns on a big dish of veg and sauce. The chicken satay was excellent but the peanut sauce under seasoned. The papaya salad needs a ‘heat warning’ on the menu and if squid is battered, it should say. Portions are not generous. Including 1 beer, the bill came to £30 inc. a 10% service charge. The service was lacklustre and no-​one asked how our food was. We waited ages to get the bill and only after paying were we asked about our experience. In all, disappointing and overpriced.