La Perla, Charlotte Street, W1

I had a couple of meetings in Soho today so got a chance to have lunch at La Perla, a Mexican place I have been to once before. Opened in 1976, it is a restaurant setting that has a compromise feeling, two thirds restaurant and one third fast food maybe? There is live music in the evenings so suspect that it has much more a bar feel to it after dark. Apparently it was rated one of the best 50 bars in the UK!

I ordered the special chicken burrito (£9.50), which was served with savoury rice and black beans. It was possibly a little too much for a quick lunch between meetings but very quick and very enjoyable. The chicken was moist and full of flavour but the best bit was the beans, which were great. I can also recommend the street tacos (£13.50), with six different varieties to try.

The high point of a visit here for me is the salsa that is served with the nachos the second you sit at your table. Nicely spicy and very fresh, the lime juice and coriander balancing and complementing each other perfectly. I remember being suitably impressed with the salsa on my first visit.

This place is never going to win a SUPER-DISH but does what it sets out to do very well. Would I go again for lunch? Yes, yes and yes! For dinner? Not so sure, but highly recommended all the same.

La Perla, 11 Charlotte Street, London, W1T 1RQ

www.cafepacifico-laperla.com/lpch.html