The Carrington

This jewel in Drink N Dine group's expanding crown is an easy place to lose track of time spent, tapas eaten and tempranillo quaffed. Styled as a quirky cantina beyond The Carrington's heaving front bar, it's a semi-serious homage to things hip and Hispanic. Cool-as waiters ply chilled-out patrons with pintxos plates of varying configurations. jalapeno and smoked cheddar croquettes, pimenton-dusted patatas bravas (read. rustically hand-cut chips) or golden 'bull's tail' empanadas that are totally toro-iffic. Burly chicken and veal meatballs vie for space in a cazuela of sweet-and-smoky tomato sauce. But morcilla-stuffed squid is the menu's shining star. This grilled cone of calamari, crammed with spice-laden morcilla (blood sausage), is one of the most robust raciones this side of Redfern. Fried milk banana split in a puddle of chocolate and pecan was hit and miss (fried milk cubes. hit; frozen banana stumps. miss) but you'll probably be tapas'd out by then, anyway.