FONDA, a conversation stopper. A review by Jay Rayner plus a look at Netherton's salsa stand

And so it came to pass that a second wise man visited Fonda restaurant and there did behold “a stand, custom designed for the three glazed, ceramic salsa pots….” The words of Jay Rayner, who goes on to describe the almost religious approach to the presentation of the sauces in his Observer column on 12th January. He is referring, of course, to the salsa stand which we created for Santiago Lastra to fit with the theme running throughout the restaurant, overlooked at all times by a cochineal dyed, pink sisal sloth! And what the eye didn’t see was the Netherton Foundry tortilla presses, originally designed for KOL, doing sterling service behind the scenes.

Jay’s article is as delightful as ever, a veritable tango of words dancing in dramatic and coordinated fashion across the page. Who else would use dog paws for portion sizes – “cubes of Doberman-paw-sized scallops”, which had us giggling and Googling paw print images. We await the scathing chihuahua rating on future reviews! And then the music changes as we slip into a Viennese waltz, gliding through the frothy butterscotch mousse, redolent of Angel Delight.

But back to that salsa stand - the salsa jugs were also created specifically for Fonda, but we now have our very own version created by Gill at Sytch Farm. So you can enjoy your own “splodge and dribble” ritual.