“There are some restaurants that remain resolutely critic-proof. You can knock Nobu till you're purple in the face, lay into San Lorenzo, carp about Asia de Cuba or bitch about Cipriani; none of it will make the blindest bit of difference.” How very true these observations are. The critic speculates that some of this is “explained by a love of seeing and being seen”, or it may be “because the critical fraternity are, by definition, pickier than yer average punter”. (Hmm, less sure about that.) This new Italian in “super-glossy St John's Wood”, she observes, seems to have emerged as one on the critic-proof places. It has opened to a “tepid” critical reception but “still comes across as the hottest table in town”.
There may be “a lot of daft posturing on the menu”, and the food may be “ordinary”, or worse, but the place nonethless attracts a clientèle where everyone “looks sunny and happy and loaded with loot”. Perhaps it’s because “Osteria Stecca has been designed by David Dalmada, the chap responsible for chic, Eurotrashy numbers such as Zafferano and La Petite Maison”. But in the critic’s view, the design is just “expensively unremarkable”. And service sounds pretty vile too.
“So”, she concludes, “go, join the happy throng, and don't, whatever you do, listen to the likes of me”.
The critic hails Claudio Silvestrin’s “quite beautiful” design of this ambitious new City Italian. Minimalism, he notes, “is nothing but a refined form of luxury”, and it is done well here: “it's worth visiting just to experience the place itself”. As it happens, though, “the food alone would be worth the trip”. “L'Anima is about as expensive as an Italian restaurant can get but if you are up for paying these prices it's worth every penny. It makes you like London better to know that such a place can be created here and, I hope, sustained – even in these times.”
“The wow factor's there before you even walk in”, notes the critic and, indeed, his piece turns out to be another hymn of praise to the City Italian that’s emerging as one of the best-reviewed newcomers of recent times.
“The revolution continues apace in Chinatown, and the future looks bright. Where once we suffered with tired Anglo-Canto greasy spoons in sad need of a makeover, now the hub around Gerrard Street is a destination for quality food.” From the start, its pretty clear that this is going to be a corker of a review, and such it turns out to be, of a new venture from “the folk who brought us Bar Shu, the temple to Sichuanese cuisine in Soho”. “Long live the Chinatown revolution…”
There is apparently “nothing wrong with the food”, at this semi-suburban spot. It has now been open for some time, though, and there is something of a mystery as to why it’s thought a suitable occupant of the Standard’s number 2 review slot.
26th June 2008
