The Daily Telegraph
William Sitwell was righteously and Britishly irritated in advance by much of the set-up around Da Costa, the new Italian restaurant at Swiss art dealership Hauser + Wirth’s ArtFarm flagship property – billed as a “farmstead” where the current season is “fall” and the bar is a “fully functioning site-specific artwork”.
All of this, though, was rendered bearable by the “gorgeous gobbles” that emerged from the “large open kitchen with a big wood-fired oven”, along with service that was “really bloody nice”.
Salt-cod balls, scallops with Venetian spices, crayfish spaghetti, “utterly beautiful wood pigeon” and a “textbook tiramisu” ensured that William returned to his home on the edge of Exmoor, on the other side of Somerset, in a much better mood.
William Sitwell - 2024-10-27The Times
Giles Coren beat a familiar path to a foodie corner of Somerset, to find himself in “a magnificent sort of steampunk Italian wood-fired kitchen” – part of the Artfarm hospitality outfit from global art dealers Hauser + Wirth – serving local produce from Durslade Farm and surrounding land and waters.
“The cooking is not ambitious, but it’s pretty good,” Giles thought – although the prices were pretty high for what was deliberately peasant food, such as canerdeli bread dumplings. He also felt the kitchen was a little heavy-handed with the salt in a couple of dishes, a pea and pancetta risotto and the Veneto classic bigoli in salsa.
Giles Coren - 2025-07-06
