Desperate to get away from the crowds congregating at St Christopher's Place on a Friday night, a friend and I found ourselves on the doorstep of La Rueda, having rejected the slightly dubious looking Italian and Middle Eastern restaurants lining James Street. I had visited La Rueda many moons ago, but my overriding memory is of picking at my paella, wondering how to eat prawns and mussels in their shells with the decorum necessary for client entertaining. Determined to give this Spanish restaurant another try, we went in.

Although the entrance looks small, the portico opening onto Wigmore Street crowded with diners on the warm summer evening of our visit, the restaurant extends quite far back. The bar area at the front has bare wooden tables and chairs, creating a more rustic feel than the dining area at the rear, where the white tablecloths and cushioned chairs make a stab at luxury. Apart from the overwhelmingly yellow walls throughout, the most noteworthy feature is the ceiling, inset with hundreds of wine bottles.

The menu comprises both tapas (£2.95 - £5.20) and more substantial starters and main courses (£9 - £34), though in reality there is much overlap, some of the starters just being larger portions of individual tapas dishes. We opted for tapas, in the mood for a light meal after the excesses of summer drinking.

White bread rolls brought while we waited were disappointingly bland and evidently bought in. Fortunately, the tapas that arrived soon after more than compensated for this inauspicious start.

The range encompasses both the familiar (boquerones, chorizo in wine, arroz con pollo) and the less common (ancas de rana - frogs' legs; callos - tripe; raxo - Gallician style pork loin). We had acachohas, artichoke hearts flavoured with Serrano ham, and rape a la Gallega, nuggets of monkfish in a punchy shellfish and fish stock. From the vegetarian dishes, we chose the stuffed aubergine, filled with minced vegetables and topped with grilled cheese. Even patatas bravas, that classic staple for filling you up, came with a fiery tomato sauce speckled with chilli seeds, a welcome change from the timid specimens so often served.

As our choice of tapas comprised vegetarian and fish dishes, we opted for the house Rioja blanco, a surprisingly fruity alternative to the more common red variety. The wine list, predominantly Spanish, is pleasantly affordable, the majority of bottles under £20.

Desserts were of the chilled cabinet variety, and didn't look too appealing, so we skipped them in favour of unhurried conversation over the vestiges of our wine, the relaxed but indifferent waiters never rushing us to leave, and reviving coffee to finish.

- Tracy Yam, 9/2004

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