London paella restaurant Arros QD launches brand new Valencian menu and set lunch

Arros QD – the award-winning London paella restaurant from five-times Michelin-starred Spanish chef Quique Dacosta – is set to launch a brand-new Valencian menu centred around ten paella recipes and simple, ingredient-led cooking plus an all-new set lunch menu at just £29 per person.

Arros QD is the renowned chef’s only restaurant outside of Spain and aims to bring the warm style of Spanish and Mediterranean gastronomy to London. The restaurant specialises in authentic Valencian cuisine with a modern twist, and wood-fire cooked dishes over open grills in a theatrical, open-plan kitchen. Famed for its rice-in-paella, it’s also the only restaurant in the UK to be awarded the coveted Cullera de Fusta (wooden spoon) award, the highest accolade in recognition of Valencian cooking culture, which shortlists the best paella restaurants in the world.

Arros is now set to expand its repertoire, bringing Londoners more of Dacosta’s signature Valencian-style flavours and paellas, paired with one of the city’s best-stocked cellars of fine Spanish wine, cava and champagne. The ten-strong list of authentic rice-in-paella – all made using 48-hour stock and premium-grade bomba rice, cooked over vines and citrus-infused orange tree wood – will continue to be served table-side, perfect for sharing. There’s smoked eel rice made using monkfish, rockfish and crab stock; scarlet prawn carabinero rice; spicy crab rice as well as premium Cornish Tomahawk rice. The long-time favourites Valencian rice with rabbit or black squid ink and cod rice with pil pil are also on the menu. There is a choice of alliolis to enjoy alongside each rice-in-paella.

 

On offer are also small plates including chargrilled baby gem dressed in chilli butter, burnt goat’s cheese, courgette and saffron or topside beef tartare alongside premium cuts of meat like Iberian presa (charcoal pork atop Jerusalem artichoke puree), Kentish lamb chops with pickled tomatoes and Hertfordshire rack of pork. There’s grilled shellfish – which take on smoky flavours from the flames – such as squid with allioli and mojo rojo; lobster salad dressed in tabasco and lime; smoked mussels in brava sauce with crispy Spanish seaweed; and Galician octopus in green chilli sauce and tomato picadillo. For something celebratory, there are carabinero scarlet cardinal prawns filled with brown crab emulsion, Cornish scallops, Mediterranean tiger prawns and quisquilla blue belly prawns and more. There is also a daily changing fish special and luxury seafood specialities, available at market price, carefully selected at the market each morning.

As workers return to their offices in the Fitzrovia area, Arros QD is also to launch its very first lunch menu. There’s a choice of three courses for £29 per person, including dishes such as tuna tartare, corn-fed baby chicken with caramelised onions, or slow-braised ox cheeks cooked in port served alongside olive oil bread, and rice pudding to finish. Alternatively for £39 per person, there’s topside beef tartare, sweetcorn dressed in feta cream and cayenne pepper, paella Valenciana filled with rabbit, chicken and garrofó beans, and cheesecake with forest fruits for dessert. 

Finally, there is also a new team at the helm of the restaurant, working alongside Dacosta and his team in Valencia: head chef Lucas Moda and executive chef Cesar Garcia take the place of Richard de la Cruz who will be providing creative direction out of Valencia.

Dacosta says: “We have loved being in London these past two years, bringing my beloved Valencian cooking and a true taste of paella to the UK. We have taken these hard 18 months and wanted to come back with something fresh, remembering what we do best, and doing it even better. We’ve created more paella dishes, more choice for our customers and more opportunity to champion some of the very best produce, like great Cornish scallops, Devonshire crab, steak from Galloway and Mediterranean prawns – unrivalled seafood, vegetables and meat which we are so proud to hero in our paellas, as we would in Spain. Seeing our chefs back in action at the wood-fired grill, carefully manning the flames to create the perfect smoky flavour on our steak or Iberian pork is a joy, and we want to do more of that. Top-quality produce, cooked in the simple Mediterranean style, letting the food do the talking. We can’t wait to welcome you in and taste it for yourself.”

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Arros QD is at 64 Eastcastle St, London W1W 8NQ. To book call 020 3883 3525 or visit their website.