EVERY veteran eater knows that appetizers are the best part of the meal at most restaurants, and many have taken to skipping entrees entirely. The small-plates concept, as it's usually called, gives form to this urge, offering smaller portions in larger numbers. And that concept may have more appeal for travelers to London than anywhere else in the world; there, we who are not paid in pounds are desperate for anything that will reduce the cost of a meal.

Small-plate restaurants generally feel obliged to acknowledge their debt to traditional Spanish tapas — but then comes the inevitable process of clarification, an annoying and universal feature. At all of them, the serving staff appears to have been trained at the same school. They will first ask if you've eaten in their restaurant before. When you answer "no," they will attempt to explain the premise to you, as if it were challenging and then proceed to instruct you to order twice as much food as you need.
I like to order a dish or two per person at a time, and then keep ordering as the meal progresses. This gives you far more control over how much you order, and it allows you to determine the meal's pacing. That's rarely the forte of a small-plate operation, many of which are likely to bring 16 dishes at once, or one at a time over a period of 16 10-minute intervals.
Here, then, are my experiences at three small-plate central London restaurants, All three close to authentically Spanish. served in smaller portions and at somewhat lower prices than usual.
You have the option of small plates or large for many dishes here. I see no reason to opt for large, unless you want a more traditional order to your meal, because there are plenty of good choices. Not all are successful, but this is one of the advantages of small plates: you can move on to the next with little penalty. Some of the best-sounding dishes — chicken with corn sauce, for example, or oysters with warm cauliflower mousse — turned out to be uninspired.
But white-onion risotto, with fresh cèpes and roasted garlic, was an astonishingly fine representation of a basic dish; chanterelles with quail eggs and artichokes used a nice, light broth to meld earthy, mysterious flavors perfectly; pork belly and cockles with olive mashed potatoes was a nice play on a classic Portuguese dish, and worked beautifully. Other dishes I liked were venison carpaccio with chestnuts, juniper and an herb salad made crispy with toasted chestnuts; and pigeon with quince, braised cabbage and bacon. In general, the dishes are hearty and not exactly nouvelle. I ate there in early winter; it will be interesting to see how varies the menu as we get into spring.
Desserts, especially a perfectly caramelized banana with evaporated-milk ice cream, were better than average, but the good news here is that they, too, are available in small — meaning appropriate — sizes, at a mere £3 to £4 ($5.30 to $7 at $1.77 to the pound) each. More sampling, less waste, less expense.
Many people have had problems with this space: the room is midnight blue, black and white, with most of the color coming from the funky mock Tiffany lampshades and some from the artwork. It's a dark look, not necessarily a bad one but quite clubby, and the house music doesn't help. But the tables are nicely set, and the service is as enthusiastic and attentive as it is in far pricier restaurants.

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