Don Fernando

My favourite restaurant! Don Fernando’s has the distinction of having not only consistently good and tasty food but also friendly, efficient staff. There is something to be said for a restaurant having waiters who have worked there for years, are good at their job and know their customers. Too many restaurants seem to employ students or short-term workers who have no vocation and little idea of what makes a meal enjoyable… many waitresses seem to think it’s just about plonking plates on a table, and it’s sooo not! It makes our evening when we go into Don Fernando’s and the waiters say “hello” as they pass our table and ask us if we will be having the paella again (Charles is famous there for eating a whole two-person paella by himself – on top of a rather large selection of tapas! The poor boy was hungry that day, bless him!).

Anyway – the food! We always have tapas because, that way, we can share all the dishes and enjoy a good selection of tastes rather than just eating one plate of something. And the nice thing about tapas is that each dish is delivered to the table as soon as it is made, so you have continuous, freshly cooked food arriving. As well as the tapas, Charles ordered a plate of sea bass to try (ooh that was juicy, the nicest thing I’ve eaten in ages – we’ll definitely be having that one again!) and I ordered a tuna salad with asparagus (again, tasty, and one to have on another occasion). I have a bit of a garlic fetish so we had potatoes and deep fried artichoke hearts, both with a good dollop of garlic mayonnaise – I could eat that stuff by the spoonful, it’s sooo garlicky and yum! Other dishes we had were little green peppers with rock salt, deep fried camembert with cranberry sauce (which rather weirdly always comes with squirty cream – I never have figured that one out!), potatoes with a spicy sauce, vegetable croquets, a slice of tortilla… all incredibly tasty.

I'm really looking forward to later this year when the ban against smoking in restaurants comes into effect. At the moment I always have to sit in the non-smoking back section of Don Fernando's – which is very nice and cosy – however my favourite area of the restaurant is the front section by the window so I can see what's going on outside whilst I eat (I'm nosey!). As soon as the smokers disappear from the front part I will be permanently glued to one of the window tables, fork in hand and smile on face!

Our meal tonight was real comfort food, perfect for settling down to a good evening’s chatting cocooned away from the outside weather. If you have never been to Don Fernando’s and you like simple, tasty food I definitely recommend it.

Don Fernando, 27F The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1DN

http://www.donfernando.co.uk/