La Gamba
Three Applebee brothers, twenty-five years of a Borough Market fish stall behind them, cooking Galician-leaning tapas at the Royal Festival Hall.1
Why go
The family history is why the menu is fish-first. Harden's editor's note: a Gallician-inspired tapas spot from Jack, Harry and Matthew Applebee
with a strong focus on fish – as expected from a family whose fish stall has developed over the past 25 years into a prominent Borough Market fixture
.1
Both reviews put it in the same place. Time Out gave it three out of five and called it a fish-first tapas restaurant with a Thames facing terrace by the Royal Festival Hall
.2 Harden's reporters are blunter: the tapas is not quite up to the best in London, but offers a good choice
,1 and then the line that matters, the food quality really stands out by comparison to others around the Festival Hall
.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever fish is on. That is what the family knows.1
- Order: the huevos rotos con chorizo, fried potatoes with Iberico chorizo and a jammy fried egg, which Time Out called
particularly decadent in the sun
, and the chipirones, deep-fried baby squid in a fluffy batter with a pot of lemon alioli.2 Harden's reporters put the runny tortilla and the plump shell-on prawns at the top of the card, and one of them names the berenjena and the croquetas.1 - Avoid: planning a long lunch on the terrace. Time Out found it packed at a sunny weekday lunchtime, with the tables close enough that getting up disturbs your neighbour.2
What locals & experts say
- Harden's survey:
Making an effort, even if it is overrun by tourists
, andthe food quality really stands out by comparison to others around the Festival Hall
.1 - Time Out, three out of five, June 2023:
A fish-first tapas restaurant with a Thames facing terrace by the Royal Festival Hall.
2
Good to know
- Where: Unit 3, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre SE1 8XX.
- Related: Applebee's Fish at Borough Market is the family's other business and a separate premises.
- Opened: February 2023, on Harden's account. Time Out reviewed it that June.12
Verdict
could-visit — Three Applebee brothers put a fish-first tapas bar in the Royal Festival Hall, and the reason to trust the fish is that their family has run a Borough Market stall for twenty-five years. The menu leans Galician. Time Out and Harden's agree on where it sits: Time Out gave it three out of five, and Harden's reporters say 'the tapas is not quite up to the best in London' in the same breath as 'the food quality really stands out by comparison to others around the Festival Hall'. That second sentence is the actual recommendation, because the South Bank is a hard place to eat well and this is the room that is trying. The terrace over the river is the draw and it packs out at lunchtime on a sunny day.