Food Review: Levantine Meets Spanish On Broadway Market
'Levantine small plates with a Spanish twist', runs the press release for Tuyo. Technically spot-on, but it doesn't really do justice to the often beautiful, always interesting mash-up of Ottoman and Mediterranean influences they're serving at this new Broadway Market restaurant.
Tuyo has seating outside, greenery hanging from every spare square foot of ceiling inside, and a spot on the water. Alright, it's the currently algae-carpeted water of Regent's Canal - but the restaurant still feels like a fix of Mediterranean summer on our visit.
There's cumin in the aioli, saffron in the cocktails and a lot of surprising flourishes in the food menu at large. Salmon's been cured with dill and lime, served in a yoghurt sauce with beetroot, blackberries and blueberries. Not a garnish of blackberries. Big, fruit-feature blackberries. Chicken thigh comes as a small plate of rich, sweet warmth, with honey-poached apricots and sumac yoghurt. And a surprise strong bid for best dish of the night comes from chargrilled artichokes with soya beans, black quinoa, feta cheese and parmesan - uncomplicated things brought together in unexpected harmony.
Tuyo's good at the things you want the second you read the menu — that chicken thigh, that honey — and just as good at the ones you don't think will work — that salmon, those lunatic blackberries. Purists' menu this isn't, bouncing across nations, inspirations and dish sizes with cheerful brightness, but it is purely enjoyable.
Last Updated 13 September 2017