Locanda Locatelli
The best Easter treat available to the keen London restaurant-goer would be a table at Locanda Locatelli. Seldom has a restaurant opening been so eagerly anticipated, and seldom have the critics swooned in such spectacularly unanimous fashion. In the six weeks or so that it has been in business the restaurant has already been pigeon-holed as the best Italian restaurant in London. An awesome achievement.
Even Zafferano (Locatelli's previous trail-blazing restaurant) took a few months to gain universal acclaim. Even scarier is the realisation that Locanda today is cheaper than Zafferano was at its height. (In 1999 a three-course dinner at Zafferano cost £32.50, while today you can pick three satisfying courses from the Locanda ? la carte for £25-£30. Plus, at the Locanda you can enjoy a decent wine by the glass for just £3).
Make no mistake, the Locanda is a very smart, high-class restaurant that is good enough, and will be famous enough, to add cachet to its landlord, the Churchill Hotel. The large corner site has its own separate entrance and the d?cor (by David Collins, natch) is modern and innocuous. The food by Giorgio Locatelli is amazingly good.
Made with assistance from baker Dan Lepard, the astonishingly good basket of varied breads and the yard-long home-made grissini set the tone. The food is fabulous. There are starters such as the ox tongue with green sauce ? tender and delicate meat with a light fresh green dressing. Mackerel fillets crop up rolled in pork belly. There's a salad of swordfish with leeks.
Pasta dishes raise the ante - tiny fluffy gnocchi come with artichokes; there's home-made ravioli filled with lemon cream and pork ragu; the chick-pea soup is wholesome with ravioli stuffed with bottarga. Every dish looks elegant on the plate, combining tastes and textures to their best effect. Main courses include a dish of pike fillets, marinated then cooked and served with the marinade's mildly pickled veg. No bones! Awesomely difficult to achieve.
It's hard to spot anything on this menu that doesn't appeal. The service is slick and the restaurant has an established and comfortable air, which belies its status as the new kid on the block. The see-and-be-seen crowd are already squabbling over reservations. Considering that this is already one of London's most talked about restaurants the prices represent astonishingly good value. You can only hope they do not rise too fast as demand kicks in.
If you want a memorable and affordable Easter treat, Locanda Locatelli is the place to go. Unfortunately, this is one eatery that will be booked way ahead. Try to make a booking, look forward to your treat and take consolation that Easter is a moveable feast - you could celebrate later in the year?
