Name: Cicchetti
Address: 215 Piccadilly, London, St James's, W1J 9HL, UK
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7494 9435
Rating: 8

Thanks to Russell Norman’s Polpo group, cicchetti is a familiar culinary term in London. The tapas-sized dishes originally hail from Venice where they are commonly served in bacari, the Italian version Spanish tapas bars serving wine and snacks.

Cicchetti is not a bacaro however, but a slick all day restaurant with elegant marble top tables and bar, above which sit seemingly endless bottles of wine and spirits. It’s part of a group called San Carlo who have several restaurants around the UK and beyond, indeed Cicchetti itself has a branch in Manchester and is soon to open as far away as Bangkok.

None other than celebrity chef Aldo Zilli consults on the group’s menus, but however you feel about the reality show regular the food at Cicchetti is nothing short of exquisite. There is a lot to choose from on the menu, which has meats, fish, focaccia, salads and even pasta, which we assumed would be difficult to serve in a cicchetti-sized portion, however a plate of delicious ravioli filled with pecorino and truffle in a creamy sauce puts paid to this idea.

There is incredibly tender grilled octopus, cooked to perfection as it retains a crisp exterior, served with chopped tomato; a similar feat is achieved with lamb cutlets which are rosy pink on the inside, and a skewer of wonderfully meaty prawns and monkfish with peppers. We also love the cold, thinly sliced veal in a rich tuna sauce, and the stodgy yet moreish deep fried, breaded mozzarella balls. The only dish that doesn’t quite live up to its promise is the focaccia stuffed with mozzarella and nduja, which is bland by comparison as the filling gets lost in the doughy bread.

There’s an unusually large selection of desserts too, with classics like tartufo and tiramisu as well as a moussey pistachio tart and a cannolo, a nice, crunchy pastry shell filled with ricotta cream.

It’s very buzzy on the night we visit, and with such accomplished food one can’t imagine it being anything but.

Cicchetti

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