Viva Dalston (Dalston)

• Now I think my dreams might be invaded with the guac' from Viva
• A low lit and unnamed restaurant venue at the bottom of Stoke Newington High Street is what houses Viva
• We walked in and were lucky enough to be seated immediately as two others were leaving
• We may have had quite a wait the place is what you could call 'cosy'
• We got ourselves some nachos with some guacamole and a couple of cocktails
• The nachos were great warm
• The guacamole was quite smooth
• The only thing it didn't really need were the large chunks of tomato but I didn't mind them being there
• A nice touch were the slices of radish to give a bit of crunch
• Our cocktails were tasty enough but didn't quite reach the heights of cocktail sophistry like they do at Nightjar or Opium where we went the following night
• Mine was accompanied by a little garnish of sliced chilli and was quaffable enough
• The couple next to us** had ordered what looked interesting and what we rightly guessed was the moqueca
• Spices but with a little booze
• Some plantain and served with a lovely long piece of bread to dip
• That had they been a little quicker with their service
• Mushroom with spinach was equally uninspiring
• Where most food choices are Mexican influenced
• The service is very friendly and with a smile
• The chicken mole quesadilla was a superb treat
• The other one we split was the king prawn moqueca
• The low point for me was a lack of rice
• A pity as the moqueca was superbly well made
• The bread that accompanies the moqueca is great to dip in
• Strong and coupled with the glass with salt

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