Terranostra

Imagine the scene. A clever Italian chap, Roberto Alberti, comes to London and gets involved in the restaurant world. He's a passionate chef and learns his way through fashionable Chelsea hangouts like La Famiglia and Signor Sassi, and the ludicrously expensive Aspinall's casino where prices are pitched so high to deter the riff-raff. Roberto wants to open his own restaurant, with proper Italian food and wines, but SW3 and W1 are way too expensive and he looks at a modest area close to the Old Bailey. The street is as undistinguished as you can get with nondescript shops and a huge building site across the road on what used to be the Readers Digest building. Gangs of paparazzi hang outside the law courts and the area heaves with office workers. But now Terranostra has opened (above left) and you know something, it's terrific. Walk through the door and you are engulfed by a genuinely Italian sense of warmth and hospitality. It's quite simple with whitewashed walls, dark wood tables and chairs and, on one side, some larger tables with dark brown leather banquettes. Large windows face onto the street and a decked area out front will be great when the building work is over. The food is essentially Sardinian with delicious - but unfamiliar - pasta such as fregola (a bit like like cous-cous) served with courgettes and prawns in a tasty mussel stock; malloreddus made with durum wheat and served with tomato and sausage sauce; and lorighitas, grooved pasta rings served with tiny scallops and dressed with a lively pesto. There are mixed sharing platters of either shellfish or traditional cured meats and cheeses, plus lots of grills - swordfish, steaks, baby squid filled with herbs. They serve "lamb ham", a delicious version of prosciutto but made with cured leg of lamb, a few vegetarian dishes and simple, traditional puddings including homemade ice-cream. You may not normally find yourself in the Old Bailey, but this place is worth a look. The locals can't believe their luck and it's good to see that drinking wine at lunchtime (almost extinct in the West End) is alive and well in EC4. 27 Old Bailey, London EC4, 020 3201 0077

 

Foxtrot Oscar

Two legends collide in the revamped, relaunched Chelsea landmark, Foxtrot Oscar (above centre). In one corner is Michael Proudlock, previous owner, louche Old Etonian who presided over the glory days of F.O. when it was party central for every rake and roué in town, along with scores of upper class obedient bimbos. In the other corner is the might of the Gordon Ramsay empire, the new owners. It's part of Ramsay's plan for world domination which includes a clutch of gastropubs in central London. Foxtrot Oscar has been snapped up to the mutual delight of both parties. Ramsay and Proudlock are old friends and neighbours - the big boy's 3-Michelin star gaff is virtually next door. Proudlock has been encouraged to stay on as restaurant manager. Ramsay's right hand man, Mark Sargeant, has left the stuffy luxury of the restaurant at Claridge's and is now supervising the pub menus so the food is pretty decent - and significantly better than in the good / bad old days. You can tuck into crab cakes, wild boar and chestnut pate, French onion soup or rillettes of smoked salmon with horseradish. Mains include ribeye steak with snail butter, fish and chips with mushy peas, and a cracking cassoulet of Lancashire Goosnargh duck (not from Yorkshire as the waiter told us). Not at all bad, and the wines are well-priced too though judging by how long it takes to get a drink, you wonder if the wine cellar has been moved to Sloane Square. The old place has been given a lick of paint, the downstairs "Siberia" has been rehabilitated as part of the refurb, and many of the old clientele are flocking back, absolutely delighted with the change. But, but but. Where I wonder is the raffish charm, where is the bar which was the focal point of the ground floor, where you could meet old chums and watch a decent bit of racing on the telly? With all these poncey new dining tables it's just another restaurant, albeit a very friendly one. Word has it that the antiseptic, squeaky clean decor is partly to blame, (there are plans to rough it up a bit), and whoever installed the reception desk has no future in restaurant design. It's worth a look anyway - if you can get a table. The central reservations system that covers all Ramsay's restaurants stays true to disagreeable form. You long for a friendly voice not a chilly robot spouting the corporate line. 79 Royal Hospital Road, London SW3, 020 7352 4448

 

L'Autre Pied

What a lucky chap Marcus Eaves is. At the age of just 26, he has his own, L'Autre Pied (above right) restaurant in Central London, backed by two of the top names in town: Shane Osborn, the chef and David Moore the owner of 2-Michelin starred Pied à Terre in Charlotte Street. Why give young Eaves a break like this? Well first of all, it's not PaT mark 2, it's not a diffusion version of an established success like rolling out a fashion brand. Eaves may be just a kid but he's put in a decade of hard graft at top kitchens with some pretty tough task masters including Claude Bosi at Hibiscus (where he won the Gordon Ramsay Scholar Award), John Burton-Race at the Landmark, Andreas Antona at Simpsons in Kenilworth, and Osborn himself at PaT. A passion for food runs in the family: his father was a chef and his brother, who until recently was sous chef at Le Champignon Sauvage under David Everitt-Matthias, now joins him in the kitchen at L'Autre Pied. It's a great place for a new restaurant now that Marylebone Village has been cleverly developed by the Howard de Walden estate as an upmarket fashion and food enclave. The interior is simple but not stark. Here's a small bar, dark wood with no cloths, vaguely Oriental silk wallpaper and backlit glass screens. Eaves's cooking, and in particular small portions, came in for a bit of flack when the restaurant opened last October but critics are swine, passing judgement before a place has a chance to find its feet. Eaves is now cooking wonderfully well - Modern European with bags of technique and frills - and the service is effective without being oily or intrusive. Eat ballottine of Cornish mackerel with pickled carrots and mustard leaves, slow-cooked cod cheeks with oxtail beignets and cauliflower cream, halibut with roasted chervil roots and pear fondants or roast poussin with parsnip and honey puree. You're too late (the season ends 28 January) for a magnificent dish of steamed and roasted hare which is served as two round nuggets, wrapped in bacon, and served with fresh leaves and purees of root vegetables and intense caramelised garlic, but make a date for your diary when hare is available again in the autumn. This will be a signature dish for years to come. 5-7 Blandford Street, London W1, 020 7486 9696. www.lautrepied.co.uk

 

Who cares about recession rumours when the restaurant scene is as lively as ever? Openings, re-launches, slick young talent and some old hands branching into the brave new world, it can only be London.

Must Try

High-profile chef Mark Hix opens his own restaurant at the end of April. As chef/director of Caprice Holdings for 17 years, Hix was in charge of London's top eateries the Ivy, Le Caprice, J.Sheekey and Scott's, as well as opening his own ultra-cool Hoxton restaurant and bar, the Rivington which was subsequently bought by the main company. Now for the first time he has his name above the door with Hix Oyster and Chop House. The restaurant is close to Smithfield's historic meat market and keeps many traditional features like original wood floors and panelling, a long marble and timber oyster bar and traditional tiles. The menu is straightforward - what it says on the tin in fact - with different types of oysters, chops, cutlets and steaks, Lancashire Hotpot, mutton curry, beef and oyster pie, and interesting cuts and breeds of meat. Breakfast menus will feature kedgeree, buttermilk pancakes with East London honey, bubble & squeak with a fried duck egg, as well as the full English. 35-37 Green Hill Rents, Cowcross Street, EC1. Phone number not available yet but you can email chophouse@
restaurantsetcltd.co.uk

Without a fuss and with no publicity, one of London's landmark restaurants closed for a major refurb in March and opens again on 1st April. Langan's Brasserie has been a fixture on the London restaurant scene since opening in October 1976. The decor and interior has never been touched since then and this refurb will involve some major ripping out, new kitchens, new floors, everything fresh and lovely but relatively unchanged. Hooray. All the magnificent pictures will be back in place and no doubt many of the staff. Owner Richard Shepherd is proud that many staff stay with him until they retire and the customers appreciate familiar faces. The fashionable crowd always in search of novelty may have moved on but Langan's continues to do over 600 covers a day, serving young and old, business people and shoppers, and more recently the hedge fund crowd who have colonised Mayfair. Stratton Street, London W1, 020 7491 8822.

Riccardo's is a legend in swanky Chelsea, a perennially popular Italian restaurant with affordable prices, a great vibe, tasty Tuscan food and probably the most handsome restaurateur in London, Riccardo himself. It has good home cooking using organic where possible, and in season air freighting 95% of the produce from Italy every day. The newly-launched Riccardo's at Home means you have all that taste of Tuscany in your own kitchen with free delivery and a wide range of traditional dishes and Italian wines. Order the rustic bean and vegetable soup ribollita; grilled baby artichokes with prosciutto and truffle oil; polenta with asparagus and wild mushrooms; wild sea bass baked in salt; grilled salmon with pesto; Tuscan meatballs and gutsy stews; and a wide variety of pasta, carpaccio, pizza, grills and salads. This is proper restaurant food delivered to your own kitchen. Call 020 7373 6333. Riccardo's Tuscan Restaurant is at 126 Fulham Road, London SW3, 020 7370 6656 www.riccardos.it