Encant Restaurant Review: Spanish Heaven in the Heart of Covent Garden

You know, there are very few restaurants in London right now that get me excited. I’m talking about that warm, bubbly feeling you get when reading over a menu that has you salivating by simply the text. Soggy text aside, I think I may have finally found somewhere that is truly exciting. It comes in the form of a small, intimate package with lots of room for improvement – which is exciting in itself as there is so much more to give. The restaurant, Encant is located slap bang in the centre of Covent Garden taking over a small space that was once CafeProper – stripping the city from yet another mediocre establishment. Inside I’ll admit, it’s not as luxurious as its excellent website shows off. It’s much smaller and could do with some extra cash spent in a few areas, but that’s also part of the charm and most importantly the food does most of the talking.

A couple of days after our visit to Encant we had a 10 day trip planned to Jerez in the south of Spain, so eating here couldn’t have been more well-timed, especially when they’re serving up one of my favourite plates of food – pan con tomate. Thick quality bread, smothered in a fresh tomato sauce, lots of salt, olive oil and garlic. Incredibly simple but oh-so satisfying. A healthy filled pot of padron peppers didn’t let the Spanish side down either – perfectly scorched and perfectly seasoned.

Portion sizes aren’t particularly huge here at Encant, but instead they’re well sized and the quality vs flavour makes up for any short fall in quantity. Aubergine and goats cheese croquettes arrived on a snazzy metal presentation plate, holding close to it what may be some of the best croquettes in London. Perfectly golden, a light crunch – and a moorish soft centre. Again, I could have done with more than three – but a second helping is only a request away. Star dish throughout our whole afternoon was this pristine presented semi-cured Galician beef fillet – topped with pickled eryngii mushrooms, a roasted hazelnut dust, delicate seasonal truffle & mushroom vinaigrette. An earthy, punchy plate of food with serious attitude – yet a whole lot of class. As tapas go the food is very refined here and you can really feel all that love and passion from each dish arriving on the table.

Still wanting to try more of the food here at Encant, we delved a little into the menu with another couple of small plates. Three very large crispy tiger prawns came wrapped in a lovely and light kataifi pastry, along with a wealth of very intriguing flavours. The sauce the prawns sat in was a mixture of Vi de Panses (wine), Tamari (soy), caramel and horseradish infused Queso de Burgos. I didn’t really know the full extend of ingredients I was eating – but it didn’t matter. Who cares when food is this good? The lamb chops arrived and made things a whole lot more serious. Succulent, well-seasoned chops with a light outer crunch from the ever so slightly charred skin. Even the bones were good enough to lick – which I shamefully did. It’s all made that extra bit better when dipped into the side of rosemary & tarragon aioli.

Perhaps my least favourite part of our meal was dessert. It wasn’t bad by any means, but certainly not as exciting as the rest of the food we’d been eating and not helped with a busy night before, meaning only one choice left on the day. Turron de Gijona Ice Cream Sandwiches. A thick chocolate sandwich, holding a neat round of chewy ice cream and dusted with toasted almonds. We finished up on a glass of crisp Manzanilla sherry before stumbling out into Covent Garden – getting us in the mood for our Andalusian vacation.

Encant is such a breath of fresh air in what is now a flooded dining scene. There are so many restaurants in London and trying to find the good ones, while avoiding the bad ones is getting harder, and it will continue to do so. Apart from the delicious and exciting menu here, the staff are also a big part of this tiny little restaurants personality and for that I’ll most certainly be back. If you’re looking for quality, modern Spanish food with attitude in London – Encant has it all.

NB: This restaurant was previously known as Duende but has undergone a rebrand. This change is all part of the restaurants exciting new second site expansion!