A “sophisticated” and “personable” Italian, off the top end of Bond Street, offering cuisine that’s both “expert” and “refined”; only real problem? – the somewhat “cramped” lay-out.
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Ahead of this rush is this new Italian – product of a partnership between the ex-chef at nearby leading light, Teca, and the ex-manager of the famed Locanda Locatelli. This is promising form, and...
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This is, concludes the Times’s man “the best new Italian in London in years”. Even the risotto – and he has “never been much of a one for risotto” – seduces him. So does “brodo di pollo” – “clear and clean as chicken’s tears, with a handful of plump white tortellini floating on it like bathing babies”. And then there’s the best carpaccio he has ever known, John Dory, which is “blamelessly fresh and sweet, crisped a little and served with baby artichokes”. “Great staff, too”.
AA Gill (22nd May 2007)
4/5 stars
The critic comes down on the side of the fans of this new Mayfair Italian: a place which is emerging as one of the love-it-or-hate-it openings of recent times. This is an “elegant little room”, he concludes, where the menu is “not cheap, but not expensive for this quality of food” (“and the set lunch, at £15 for two or £18 for three courses, is probably the best value in the West End”).
Gills Coren (18th June 2007)
AA Gill (22nd May 2007)
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