De La Panza is a brand new Argentine restaurant located in De Beauvoir Town across the road from the lovely De Beauvoir deli. Influenced by bodegón-style restaurants in Buenos Aires the menu features a selection of steaks -all imported in from Argentina – stews, tapas and light dishes such as the popular street food dish Milanesas de Lomo (breaded veal sandwich).
De La Panza is Argentine slang for stuffing your belly, and with steaks this big your belly will be stuffed!
To start we tested the Empanadas to see how they faired up to the real deal and we’re happy to say they were better than any we tasted in Argentina. Crammed with filling, the pasty was dense enough to hold the tender meat whilst being thin enough for the flavours to shine through. Sopa de Pescado; Basque Fish Soup with vegetables and shell fish was a hearty dish, great as a Winter warmer.
For mains we tried the Bife de Lomo and Bife de Chorizo, a fillet and sirloin to you and me. Cooked medium rare the Bife de Lomo was the clear winner, a huge brick of meat, the steak was tender to cut and the quality of the meat was up there with the best steaks we’ve sampled in London. The sirloin had no complaints either but trust us if your dining partner is choosing the Bife de Lomo you’re going to have some serious food envy. Served with Chimichurri sauce which had a rather sharp kick to it, and sides of salad and papas frites it was quite the feast.
We could only managed to share a dessert – Panqueque – a pancake filled with dulce de leche. Not for everyone this super sweet toffee style sauce is thick and rich. The pancake was a little too cold for our liking but we still ate the whole thing.
Drinks wise there is a great selection of Red wines, the house Malbec for only £14 is a steal oh and they serve Quilmes – seriously what’s not to love! This neighbourhood restaurant is simple and unfussy yet serves great food. We like.
105-107 Southgate Road, De Beauvoir Town, N1
www.delapanza.co.uk