The Club and Oops - Your opinions wanted....

Some thoughts on two rather different West End venues that I revisted last week...and a request for your views.

The Club is snuggled in Warwick Street right opposite a firm of West End property agents (where the friend who helped me discover this little gem some months ago works - thanks!). So that's just off Regent Street and close to Piccadilly Circus for those of you who are sat nav challenged. It is a venue of many faces. As you peer through the large, glass front it looks like any ordinary wine bar cum restaurant with couples dotted around the tables where you can have a conversation without having to shout. Reasonably priced wine (Very drinkable Chenin Blanc for £16) and cocktails too. But if you move through to the back part of the place you arrive at a very lively and often crowded bar - with lots of stools and bar space, and lots of very happy bright young (professional) things having a good time. Buzzy buzzy buzzy. Apparently, if you have the stamina to stay up late (and some of us just can't manage that these days) there is even a music and dance area downstairs where, I am reliably informed, it is particularly fun on Saturday nights (too bad I was there on Friday!). I hope that someone reading this gives it a go on a Saturday and let's me know....

I then popped onto the tube for a few stops to what was one of my favourites in Covent Garden - Oops the tapas bar with a difference in Catherine Street. Now, a food critic chum of mine thought Oops wasn't good and told me that I was talking out of my nether regions if I thought it was. Well, I used to really like it there - friendly staff, warm atmosphere, really great food and lovely wine - all at a reasonable price. Well, I am afraid that it has fallen off my favourites tree - the food, I am afraid, was disintinctly average which was a real shame cos I had one of my Spanish experts with me that I had hoped to impress. Mind you, the bottle of Cava (Mas Macia Cava Gran Riser - £28.50) we enjoyed really was excellent. So, the big question is, was Oops just having a bad food day or is this the way it always is now? Someone let me know before I venture back there again...