It was party time tonight in the back streets of Koenji, but the tears were flowing with the vino. After a decade as the funnest friendliest Spanish bar in town, on Saturday the legendary Las Meninas closed its doors for the very last time.
Owner-chef Johnny Miller and his wife Taeko are packing it in, taking down the shingle and heading off down to Osaka (NB they'd announced the move a long time ago, and it was nothing to do with recent seismic events).
To call it the end of an era might be overstating the case. But for the locals who congregated there — and there were plenty — it's going to leave a gaping gap in their well-soused social lives.
Despite working out of a ridiculously cramped kitchen, Johnny always turned out a great range of hearty and reliably good Spanish staples. It was virtually impossible to spend too much there — even the Roda I was not a whole lot more than you'd find at retail prices. Not that I ever drank it there: Johnny always had a few bottles of good oloroso in the fridge and the house vino was basic tempranillo but quaffable anyway.
Want to know what you missed? I gave it a wee write-up a few years back in the JT here (scroll down the page). And here are a few more photos, some taken last Friday night others in previous years...
