aqua nueva (Bar, Restaurant)

Top 10 things you need to know about Aqua Nueva restaurant:

1) You already know about this rooftop restaurant and bar in Soho. You may have even been. But all that can be forgotten. Aside from the same location next to Liberty, the London Palladium, and Oxford Street, everything else has changed.

2) Now there’s less menu, less dangly ceiling decoration, less restaurant-in-a-corridor. Instead, more light, more expanse, more Spanish sharing plates (but it’s not tapas).

3) Gold curves, chic banquettes, and circular booths from sister Aqua Shard now give the restaurant a shiny new car feel. So recline, smell the leather, and cruise the Spanish peninsula.

4) Begin with a glass of cava, obviously. Don’t be a heathen!

5) Don’t bother with the simplistic menu. Put all your faith in Monica. She wears a suit, she commands the floor, she know everything, so her recommendations offer a total experience. She’ll suggest 2-3 plates per person, so best order 4 to be safe.

6) The plain woodstack piles of white asparagus topped with pipirrana make a decent palate cleanser, whereas the gloopy almagro-style, roasted aubergine has heat enough to warrant a glass of cooling Auspices Sancerre wine.

7) The matador staff skip and weave amongst the tables, delivering the killer dishes to hungry mouths, such as the red mullet and black ink rice pasties, or the braised lamb with apricot and peach (order last as it’s essentially a meat dessert).

8) If you need just one reason to visit, the soft poached egg with chorizo, pancetta and fried potato is it. Theatrical, because you mix it as soon as it arrives, this dish is a warm kiss in the face and tastes like the best crisps you’ve ever eaten. The only thing wrong: you’ll want one each; sod sharing!

9) Reason 2 to visit, the Aqua group motif: an amazing view. This is one of the best rooftop bars in London for the broken-hearted to feel human again. Look down at the riff-raff of Regent Street. Isn’t it great to be you right now?

10) As a rule, reviewing restaurants a second time is a not an option for critics who constantly chase the next experience on the horizon. Why go back? There are new adventures ahead. On this sole occasion, though, the rule book is gladly thrown out the window....read more