Veal With Tuna Sauce Veal With Tuna Sauce
Macellaio RC South Kensington

Macellaio RC South Kensington

84 Old Brompton Road London, SW7 3LQ, United Kingdom

Steak • Pasta • Italian • Fast Food


"Maxela opened in late 2012 in the Brompton Road, near South Kensington tube station. The dining room is in two parts. The first room as you enter features a large meat counter with a few tables, so it looks a bit like a butcher’s shop that has added a few seats. Indeed the name of the restaurant means “butcher” in a Ligurian dialect. The second, more conventional dining room is beyond, and has a skylight and tiled floor, with a blackboard picture illustrating the various cuts of meats from a cow. Maxela is a branch of a small chain of restaurants of this format in Italy, which has at the time of writing grown to nine branches. The chef here is Rafaelle Cozzolino, who has cooked at a few London restaurants, most recently the Taverna Italiana in Wimbledon. What interested me is that Maxela specialises in Fassone beef, which I have eaten several times in Piedmont but never in London. This Piedmontese meat is interesting in a number of ways; It comes from a breed of cattle selectively bred to have a faulty gene that causes the cattle to have less connective tissue than usual, which results in a very tender meat. Fassone beef has much less fat than normal cattle, about one-third the calories of normal beef, and less than half the cholesterol. It looks suspiciously lacking in marbling, and yet is still tender. The menu, not surprisingly, is heavily oriented towards meat, with a selection of cured meats, a few pasta dishes and a number of ways of serving the Fassone beef. The beef is imported vacuum-packed from Piedmont, aged for 25 days. The meat is then aged further depending on the particular piece of beef in the restaurant, typically for a further 4-6 weeks. Only female cattle are used here the male cattle can have a gamey flavour when aged). There are a couple of pasta dishes without meat in case a truly short-sighted vegetarian decides to wander in by mistake. A burger using the high quality beef was available for just £6.50. The sliced Fassone beef, offered with various accompaniments, was just £16, which to me seems a bargain. The Italian wine list starts at £18, going up to £99. It has wines such as Falesco Poggio Dei Gelsi Est Monte Fiascone at £22 for a wine that you can find in the shops for around £9, Antinori Chianti Classico at £36 for a wine that retails at around £23, and Flesco Montefalco Sagrantino at £60 for a wine that cost around £35 in a shop. There is even Antinori Tenuta Guado al Tasso 2007 at £99 for a wine that will set you back around £72 to purchase retail. Given that there are some fairly serious wines on the list, it is irritating that vintages are not listed I only found about about the vintage of the Antinori wine by asking to see the bottle). Fresh taglierini pasta was served with a ragu, the pasta having good texture, the tomato sauce with meat having quite full flavour 14/20). I was able to try two cuts of the Fassone beef. The rump steak was offered with rocket and shaven ricotta. Cooked medium-rare this had excellent flavour 14/20), but even better was a rib-eye of the Fassone, which had deeper flavour and was genuinely top class, accurately seasoned easily 15/20). Unfortunately it was accompanied by some truly dire fries, which were actually hand-cut but were limp yet leathery: really disappointing 8/20). This was quite jarring given the quality of the other dishes that I tried. Latte dolci fritto £5) is a Ligurian speciality: thickened milk flavoured with lemon zest and sugar is put into a blast-chiller to solidify, then coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. It was very pleasant, though a bit more lemon would have improved it 13/20). Tiramisu £6) was nice, though the coffee flavour could have been quite a bit stronger to my taste 13/20). The bill came to £31 a head, with just water £2.25 a bottle) to drink. Espresso was very good. With a modest wine the bill would come to around £50 a head for three courses. Service was friendly, the manager in particular very enthusiastic and helpful. It is always tricky scoring a restaurant that essentially does one thing very well, but I will leave it at 13/20 for now given the unevenness. Maxela is clearly a restaurant that has a lot of enthusiasm behind it, and if they can iron out some issues in particular the poor chips) then they should do very well, especially given the modest price point. I will be happy to return."

Da Noi

Da Noi

63 Bridge Street, CH1 1NG, Cheshire West and Chester, United Kingdom

Pizza • Pasta • Steak • Italian


"The most authentic Italian experience you can find outside of Italy. Da Noi is possibly the most delicious Italian food I have ever had in the UK since I moved here back in 2009. This is a place where the owners run the whole business and everything they do is with pride, passion and love just like high quality family run restaurants in Italy. Now, let's get to the food and drinks! I started off with a gigantic home made light and thin pasta raviolo filled with ricotta cheese and an egg yolk that explodes out when cut in half finished with a porcini mushrooms sauce and truffle oil. The aroma of the porcini and truffle mixed wonderfully with the creaminess of the yolk and the delicious pasta filling. Be aware, you can even order this as a MAIN!!! Together with my starter I ordered a white floral wine from Piemonte called Baratuciat... one word: divine. As a main, I ordered the venison cooked medium rare juicy and tender as it should be, together with a light almond sauce and dauphinoise. Once again, I followed the instructions and gone with the pairing choice, a fruity Barbaresco that enhanced all the flavours on the plate. Amazing. Of course, I had to try a dessert too, so I went for the super traditional Piemontese pudding called Bunet a sort of creme caramel hyped up with coca and amaretti biscuits. Again, hats off. My friend had the same dishes except for the main where he opted for the incredibly succulent and aromatic pheasant. At the end, while sipping an espresso in truly Italian fashion, we had the pleasure to spend some time with owners Valentina, who is the genius mastermind behind the food menu, and Fabrizio, who is incredibly charming and knowledgeable when choosing the wines. Grazie ragazzi, we are very jealous Chester got you! Fil Andrea Vegetarian options: One option in the starters and two options in the mains. It goes without saying these aren't after thoughts vegetarian options :"

Cucina

Cucina

1 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1AD, EH1 1EG, United Kingdom

Pasta • Steak • Italian • Brasseries


"We visited this hotel for a cocktail because it was recommended to us by friends. It also helps that I'm a Radisson Rewards Platinum member so I get a discount on food and drink.We arrived and were directed to sit at an empty table for table service in the bar area. The bar wasn't busy. Other than us the was only 1 other table waiting (other tables already had drinks) and only 1 person at the bar, who had arrived and after us. It took several minutes for a waiter to come over and take our order, even though we trying hard to get someone's attention. They arrived took our order and disappeared. Our drinks arrived over 25 minutes after ordering. We watched the bar tender repeatedly walk back and forth between the bar and a back during this time, looking fairly clueless. By the time the drinks arrived a lot of the ice had melted and condensation was dripping off the glasses onto the table. They didn't give or offer us a napkin to rest the drinks on, to soak this up. Because it took so long for the drinks to arrive and we were now becoming short of time before our restaurant reservation, we requested the bill. The waiter acknowledged the request, returned to the bar and proceeded to make someone else's order. It was at this point I went to complain to management for the tardy service. By the time I'd returned to the table after complaining, which took around 5 10 minutes, the bill had finally arrived. But even though I'd told the bar staff I was a Platinum member and should get a discount, there was no discount applied. I took the bill to the bar and asked them to apply my discount. He told me the discount doesn't apply to alcoholic drinks and I disagreed. He went to ask his manager. 5 minutes later he returned admitting he was wrong and applied the discount. All in all, the service was dreadful slow, incompetent, inexperienced, unapologetic and unaware of rules of Radisson Rewards membership. What should have been a pleasant quick drink which shouldn't have only taken 10 20 minutes, took the best part of 50 minutes, a complaint and an argument over my members discount. Very, very disappointing."