STREETXO
StreetXO is the first London outpost from three Michelinstarred Spanish chef David Munoz, who runs its sister venue along with a conceptual finedining restaurant DiverXO in Madrid. StreetXO opened in Mayfair in November, serving Spanish-Asian sharing plates.
Located underground, the restaurant is a dark, sultry space decked out with Japanese-inspired neon street signs, chain mail detailing and bulbous light fixtures hanging from low ceilings. It felt like a cross between a club, a psychiatric unit and a meth lab thanks to the straitjacket-clad chefs, a thumping electronic soundtrack and yellow hazard tape. The human heart-shaped crockery displayed on the bar’s shelves added to that feeling.
Munoz’s taste for theatricality extends to the drinks menu, with cocktails such as the Liquid Madrizzzz’s DiverXO (£13), made with jasmine, coconut shrub, lime, ginger and “violet candy nectar”, and presented in an orb-shaped goblet the size of my head.
Among the menu’s 18 sharing plates, favourites include Pekinese dumpling with crunchy pig’s ear (£14.50), served with Jackson Pollock-esque splatters of strawberry hoi sin, and the prawn suquet (£19.60), served on a wafer-thin cracker with dollops of yellow saffron aioli. Flash cooked, the robata carabinero prawns paired well with the brittle cracker and the velvety coconut-based soup in which they stewed.
The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed, with both waiters and kitchen staff taking on a service role. Expect an elaborate experience, offering bang for your buck in terms of theatre and sensory stimulation. Marisa Cannon