Extensive search of the internet only turned up one possible eating establishment for Chile in London, El Vergel, but luckily reviews were very much on the positive side. The only downside, it's only open at lunch time.
El Vergel is in a quiet Southwark back street, between Southwark and Borough tubes, so it wasn't too difficult to find a day when we could escape the office, and take the trip west from Docklands. James and I arranged to meet our friend Deeg for a Tuesday lunch date. It's a short stroll from Borough tube and interestingly situated on the ground floor of a fairly new block of flats. The chefs must benefit from being close to Borough Market.
The décor was minimalist, having that Wagamamas feel with long wooden tables, bare concrete pillars that kids had obviously been encouraged to scribble on with felt tips. But an impressively large space with room for a deli at one end. And very busy for a Tuesday in January. They did stick us in a corner table, so I felt we were a bit out of the main café action.
We were under time pressure, so opted for a snacky two course lunch.
For starters, James and I shared an empanada de carne. Delicious crumbly pastry case with a minced beef filling. I would certainly recommend them and guess that they probably sell them in the attached deli (didn't even have time to browse!)
For the main course, all three of us chose churrasco queso - a steak sandwich with cheese on Chilean village bread. The bread was amazing and contained a huge slab of tender medium to medium rare steak with mozzarella style cheese.
I washed my sandwich down with a tropical juice, only because we needed to get back to work, otherwise it would have been a cold beer or a glass of Chilean wine.
Nice place, a little gem if you live or work in that part of town. It's looking like we may end up back in the London Bridge area at the end of this year, this will make a great place for lunch once in a while.
Now for the scores! Haven't done this in a while, what categories did I have?
Food: ****
Value for money: *****
Atmosphere: ***
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