ZOILO...a little argentinian paradise in London!

I'm back...this week I'm very happy...last night I had a nice dining experience!
Few weeks ago a friend of mine told me about a new argentinian tapas bar around Oxford Circus...I've never really had an argentinian restaurant experience, and since I love tapas bar I decided to give it a try!
So I put on some nice clothes and with my inevitable companion I headed down to Oxford Street!
We didn't have a reservation but it wasn't hard to get two seats at the bar...I have to say Zoilo has a nice design, brick wall, nice bulbs hanging on the ceiling, and a suffused light!

I soon realized that the menu was quite small...4 snacks, 3 empanadas, 3 sea, 4 land and 3 sides!
Instead I really enjoyed the wine list with a few Malbec to choose from!
I went for the best Malbec on the menu, a Decero 2011 and Fabre Montmayou Reservado 2012, simply delicious! The Malbec is a very strong wine they both were above 14%!

Then the food...we started with a selection of house bread & butter, oh my gosh that bread was so good, we had to order a second basket!

Then we had Provoleta, almonds & oregano honey...it was so delicious, I'm not really in to cheese, but I was very impressed, it was very tasty and the cheese, almond and oregano honey combined togheter created an amazing dish, somehow reminded me of the cheese on top of the best pizza u can imagine! Stunning....

Then we had Braised pig head croquettes & quince jam, again not big fan of the pig head or pig ear cos they have a very strong taste, and even this time the dish had a quite strong taste, which was balanced by the quince jam but I have to say the result was quite good, so pig head croquettes...why not!

Then the empanadas, we had the one with spinach, goats's cheese, raisins & pine nuts, it wasn't the best dish of the night, since the empanadas is quite a simple dish, with simple ingredients, it wasn't anything special, probably the best empanadas I hate so far, but still an empanadas! Let's move forward...

Then main courses...Chimichurri beef burger, smoked bacon, provolone, onions & pickles...I love burgers and I never had one with Chimichurri sauce (Chimichurri  is a green sauce used for grilled meat, originally from Argentine, it is based on finely-chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, oregano, and white or red wine vinegar) and I have to say it was quite delicious, cooked as perfection, juicy meat, the bacon wasn't crispy as I like it to be, provolone cheese, the same we ate as a starter was quite good, and the sauce was very good, beef burger...well done!

Then the Caramelised pork belly, grilled scallops, sweet potato & chorizo, I found the combination pork belly/grilled scallops, which was cooked as perfection, quite fascinating...the dish was great, nice flavours, pork not to fat, properly cooked and very tasty...vamossss

Breast of duck, pumpkin, cabbage, quince & granola...another well executed dish...I loved the crunch of the granola, and the pumpkin cabbage and quince to offset the duck flavor, well done!

We had a side dish of  chips, which looked and tasted good, I think the dish had a bit too garlic, but it's a personal taste, anyway loved the chips!

Then it comes the desert; I have to make a point here...it's very hard to find a very unique desert nowadays, wherever I go, Spanish, Italian, Argentinian or French restaurant, the desert menu is not the same but quite similar, I had pannacotta in an Italian restaurant and in a Spanish one, I had Creme brûlée in a French one and in an Argentine one...so I wasn't impressed when I read the desert menu, like I wasn't in every other place I have been...anyway....
we had a delicious, I repet this, DELICIOUS Dulche de leche Crème Brûléè & "banana split" ice cream, with an amazing glass of desert wine, which I can't remember the name, but I do remember the taste, wowwww....and then a Chocolate Fondant, not quite good as the Crème Bruléè but still a great desert, whit an other amazing glass of wine.
I have to say I was very impressed about the wine in this restaurant, both Malbec and desert wine!

The bill was around 100 pounds plus the service charge!
It was a great night, stunning restaurant, great food and amazing wine, good service, the barman Tommaso along with the manger and the rest of the stuff have done a great job, thank u guys!
Will I come back?!...
Of course and next time I will try the fish and the white wine...Zoilo see u soon!
Gracias papi 
 ;-)

OPERA TAVERN...not sure yet!

This week I'm a bit confused...after the great last week dinner at TOZI, last night I had dinner in a Italian/Spanish tapas bar, OPERA TAVERN, in Covent Garden...I had to say I already had a dinner in this restaurant last year, and it was an amazing experience, the meat was fantastic, the Presa Iberica excellent, the Pigeon, oh my gosh great, wine, desert everything was fantastic...but, this time I can't say the same, last night I went for the fish, so that I could have better understanding of the food, but I was disappointed, the food is not bad but I had such a high expectation...
We didn't have a reservation and we were lucky enough to find two seats at the bar,which it was fine for me, actually I really like seat at the bar...
I have to say the service was very good, we were served by a spanish and a south african guy, both very nice.
Let's go down to the food...cos at the end this is what is all about....
We decided to eat fish so I picked two white wines, one glass of italian Blanc de Morgeax, Rayon (Priè Blanc, Valle d'Aosta) 2012, and one glass of the spanish Villa Narcisa (Verdejo Rueda) 2013, both very good even if slightly different, I have to say the spanish wine was a bit better then the italian.
Even if we opted for the fish we decided to start with the hamon croquettas, good but not delicious, when I think at the hamon croquettes, I think at the Barrafina (tapas bar in Soho) ones, best croquettes in Town, don't worry very soon I'll be talking about Barrafina...is one of the best tapas bar in London; anyway...as I said good but not superb...here is the pic

then we ordered a grilled lemon squid, which I have to say it wasn't what I expected, it tasted like grill, and u would say, "obviously it was grilled", I know, but it seems to be at a sunday afternoon barbecue with my friends instead of being in a nice restaurant in central London, anyway I didn't like it at all, it was a bit chewy, and again grilled calamari, not thanks, I'm not in a barbecue mood...

then we chose one of every fish tapas on the menu, which includes, salt cod croquettes, pan seared scallops, chargrill octopus (again grilled), grilled tune (again) pan fried hake, pan roasted sea bass...
this is the exact order;
Pan seared scallops with butternut squash purée and iberico manteca, well again it didn't impressed me at all, it wasn't bad or anything like that, but it didn't have that "x factor", and for "x factor" I mean it wasn't like "woooow" I was like "mmmm...that's it?!"...anyway scallops failed...

then we had the octopus with chickpea fritter, red pepper and mojo verde, and here it comes again the grill...noooo! The octopus like the calamari tasted like grill...and when I think at the spanish octopus dish I imagine "AGAIN" the octopus of BARRAFINA, I can't wait to write about this amazing tapas bar in Soho...but not yet....now let's go back at Opera Tavern...anyway the octopus like all the other dishes wasn't bad but just it wasn't anything special...so octopus quite failed...I'ven't been impressed by anything yet, apart the wine which was very good!

I almost forgot, the chickpeas Fritter, it just doesn't make any sense to me and to my palate!

Then we had tuna, again grilled but I couldn't really taste the grill but something else really concerned me...the tuna was cold...I'm like? How can it be cold if it was cooked just few minutes before been served...as matter of fact it wasn't, I soon found out, after asking one of the waiters that it was meant to be a tuna salad, I was very disappointed that I didn't finish the food...again it wasn't bad but I wanted something more and different then just a salad...

Then it comes the salt cod croquettes with saffron aioli, not bad but again nothing special, and they look almost like the ham croquettes, but we already knew it, because the waiter told us in advance, the saffron aioli sauce instead was fantastic...

The last two dishes pan fried salted hake and pan roasted wild roasted sea bass...the presentation was almost similar, and obviosly they tested different but the result was pretty much the same...avarage food which didn't impresse me at all!

Here it comes the desert which it was a bit of a consolation...just half the way...cos we had a delicious Dulche de leche panna cotta with chestnut crumble and yoghurt sorbet, with a glass of an amazing Moscato Rosa, and then a chocolate truffles with pistachio biscuits, which was just cookies on a plate, not impressed!

Then it came the bill, and I was impressed to realize we had a big discount, didn't really understand why, but it was appreciated!
So will I come back?! Not sure, maybe I will give a third try, but not sure...can u see, I'm still confused!
OPERA TAVERN is an italian and Spanish tapas bar, but apart from the wine I have to say there's no much of italian food in there...and for the Spanish food?! Well I can say I loved the meat and didn't like the fish!
Adios/Ciao Opera tavern!

TOZI, real Italian food in London!

TOZI...finally real italian food!
After the very bad experience at Polpo last week, Russel I don't know if I could ever forgive u, last night I went to TOZI, a Venetian-Italian restaurant and bar in Victoria.It was a Triumph since the beginning, stunning restaurant, there's a very nice atmosphere, and finally everybody where italian, from the hostess, waiting stuff and management!
I mean, would u go to a German restaurant and be served by an italian waitress? Nope...why? Simple the restaurant experience is not only food and drink but is the whole experience that matters, and if I was german and I went to a german restaurant and the waitress was italian I'd be a bit disappointed!
So as italian I was happy to know that everybody was italian...anyway...lets talk about food!
Tozi serve Cicchetti, small sharing plates, like the spanish tapas, like Polpo, but the difference is simple the quality in Tozi is astonishing.
We didn't have a reservation, stupid, but we were lucky enough to find a table available.
We were approached by our waiter, who explain us the menu, he was impeccable, the service went smooth, it seems to be back in NYC, one thing I want to say about the service, u may know or not know but the service in London is quite differente from NYC, anyway the service at Tozi is like NYC, waiters, busboys, runners, is a pleasure for the customer.
From our table we could see the open kitchen...

We started with a couple of Cicchetti, actually first of all our waiter brang us a basket of lovely bread...

then we had a pizzetta with butternut squash gorgonzola and walnut, it was simply amazing, what a difference between the Polpo pizza, which was simply disgusting, this was a real Italian pizza, perfectly cooked and very tasty; and look how beautiful it is (pic below), there's no way a pizza that beautiful could taste bad, you could realize how good is it only looking at it...divine!

then we had a fried courgettes, which was ok, nothing special, but still well executed, and then a selection of cured meat...oh my god it really seemed to be back in Italy, in the meantime we were drinking a glass of delicious Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, 2012...which was served, and here I mention again the Polpo family, in a proper wine glass!

Then here it comes the Burrata, oh my gosh...it was simply melting in my mouth, again delicious; the Burrata is a fresh italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream, the outer shell is solid mozzarella, while the inside contains both mozzarella and cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture; I took pics of every dish we had but unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of the burrata, we couldn't wait to dig in ;-)


Then the pasta, we had two different pasta the first was an amazing buffalo ricotta ravioli and truffle, the pasta was perfectly cooked and very tasty, then we had mezzi paccheri wild boar, again super delicious.

In the meantime I had an other glass of wine, a Carignano del Sulcis Grotta Rossa, 2011/2012 from Sardinia.
At least but not last we had Ox cheeks, girolles and red wine sauce.

We end our dinner with a couple od desserts, delicious fig tart with vanilla ice cream, lime and basil sorbetto and passion fruit and campari sorbetto, while we were drinking an amazing Passito di Noto Planeta, 2010 from Sicily.

And then I had a coffe, which I regret, not because it wasn't good, but just because, and I usually don't drink coffe, after all that amazing food I had such lovely flavor in my mouth which was destroyed by the coffe...I sincerely don't understand all this fuss about the coffe, in Italy almost everybody drinks a cup of espresso after the meal, but if you think about it really doesn't make sense, most of the time the coffe flavor doesn't really match with the dinner you had, and it ended up destroying all the lovely flavors I had in my mouth!

The total bill was a bit less the 130 pounds, for two people, included service charge...it might seems a bit expensive but we had 6 glasses of wine, and lots of food.
Will I come back?...Oh yeah...I can't wait.
TOZI real italian food in London!

Russel Norman and POLPO Restaurant

I don't know where to start...

Last night I went to Polpo in Soho! I heard a lot about Polpo and his owner Russel Norman, so I decided to give it a try...and the result is WHY IS RUSSEL NORMAN AND POLPO SO FAMOUS?

First of all...an English owner which sells italian food cooked by a portuguese chef (I don't know the chef but I asked the waiters ;-)...I'm like what? What is this place?! Russel, don't take this personal...but just cos U had travelled in italy doesn't make u an expert of it...why are u doing this?!....I almost forgot I am 100% italian born and raised...this doen't make me better then anybody else or an expert in food, there's lots of italians which eat and cook bad food, but it's not me...Anyway...

It seems to me that Polpo wants to look cool...but italian food is not cool, italian food is simple, humble and super tasty...like my grandma used to cook...an humble house with Not expensive ingredients, cos we didn't have the money, but the result was extraordinary...the only thing that reminds me of my grandma is the "ricami" on the window and on top of the lights, but unfortunately this is not 1980 but 2015 and those ricami are not cool at all, maybe at Polpo they think they are cool, but trust me they are not!

Then, at the corner of the bar there's a big container, like a big pot with bottles of white wine, what really shocked me is that those bottles are open, they took off the cork and put the bottles in there, and there the bottles stay all night...again this might look cool to the Polpo family but is not...ask any sommelier and they will tell u...why are those bottles open? The wine by the end of the night will be dead, think about this way...take and apple and slice it in half...after 20 mins what happen to the apple? It gets brown! Why? Cos of the Oxygen! So why do u do something like that Polpo? Maybe cos u think is cool? Well is not...I don't know for u Russel but for italian people wine is very important,   It's part of our culture and U should respect those people which produce wine with lots of dedication and passion...so at least put the cork back on those freakin bottles!!!

                                                                                    (I took this pic, low quality sorry ;-)

Then...again wine has to be served in a wine glass...not in a water glass ( again u think is cool? Is not! It's just poor) and when I asked a proper glass of wine I've been given a little plastic glass which seems like a toy for my kid...

                                                                                                       (I took this pic)

then something which business speaking concern me quite a lot...Barrafina which is a Spanish tapas bar (VERY VERY GOOD) serve amazing Spanish wine by the glass, a glass is 12,5 cl and the average price is 8 pounds, Polpo serves wine by the "glass", 25 cl (Barrafina is 12,5cl) and the average price is 8 pounds, like Barrafina...so they both have the same average price but Polpo is double the quantity 12,5cl vs 25cl;
just to make this easy....

BARRAFINA 12,5 cl 8 pounds
POLPO 25 cl  8 pounds

This might seems cool but is not cos, I've been working in this business for quite a lot now and I know the profit on wine and the only reason this could happen is cos the quality of the Polpo wine is way lower then Barrafina wines, otherwise there's no reason why this could happen!

Now let's talk about the food...OMG!

I had a cicchetti plate, which means one of every cicchetti, which is a starter, the whole plate was terrible, crab croquette bland, potato croquette just seems not fresh, "Da Mori" seems an insult, really what is it? Fried olives...for real? Then the salmon crostini...holy s... My dog wouldn't eat it...he would look at me and he would say (my dog) "wtf man, get a grip! Wtf is that?

                                                     
                                                                           (this is only an illustrative pic, I didn't take it)

Then the PIZZA, and here It's gettin personal...THAT IS NOT A PIZZA! The dough was bland, too much garlic on the spinach...it was disgusting!

                                                           
                                                                          (this is only an illustrative pic, I didn't take it)

And here comes the meatballs...which is a very poor dish, not often found in a restaurant in Italy (never forget spaghetti and meatballs is an italian-american dish, not italian)...but it could be very delicious if well done...well this wasn't the case, probably frozen, not sure, and the tomatoes sauce was well under cocked and again bland...do they have salt and pepper in that kitchen?

                                                                         (this is only an illustrative pic, I didn't take it)

Well after that I decided to stop eating...

I almost forgot...they serve the SPRITZ which is an italian cocktail made from Aperol, prosecco which is a sparkling wine (not still wine) and soda water...I had it (but Polpo version is whit still wine) and what I think?  if u want an amazing Spritz go to PRINCI in wardour street!

The whole experience was very bad I would never go back...when I left I was so disappointed and hungry that I went to Barrafina, where I got my smile back again, they have never disappointed me...keep it up guys! Gracias!

So what I'm trying to say here is...why is RUSSEL NORMAN AND POLPO so freakin famous...maybe cos English people they don't know about italian food so U can fool them, but this is not fair and honest, even though is not fair play with people money...and stomach! 

Mamma miaaaaaa Russel!