Have you booked for the next event?

The fourth pasta tasting event at Massimo's Restaurant and Oyster Bar is already confirmed for the 29th of May, this means that you have 20 days from now to book your place and no excuses to miss this night.

Next event will see again the chef Luca Seminara, busy with the preparation of some great traditional recipes from the italian tradition with Pastificio dei Campi pasta. All the dishes will be explained in their preparation and everyone will have the chance to see the chef at work while eating his creations.

Are you curious to see what happened during the last pasta tasting event for the first anniversary of Massimo's Restaurant? Here some pictures to show you all the nice dishes and the great night we spent together. 

After a light aperitif with Arancini and mackerel Polpette, we ate the amazing Orecchiette with Genoese pesto, made of green beans and caramelized potatoes;

Then we had Calle dei Campi with gurnard and cherry tomatoes and finally Vermicelli with a delicious lamb ragu’.

We have closed the feast with some chocolate tasting and almond and lime & ginger sorbet, really great after the long and hot cooking night.

Here is the next event: http://www.facebook.com/events/421098671236767/

please write directly to tables@massimo-restaurant.co.uk  to book your place and I hope to see you there.

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I went to Alloro and I loved it!

On monday night was released the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world and if nothing happened to the first three nominees always for Noma in Denmark, El celler and Mugaritz in Spain, lots happened in the rest of the classification.

The best restaurant in UK is now the new entry Dinner by Heaston Blumenthal, while his previous restaurant, The Fat Duck , high in the list last year, is this time at the 13th position, with The Ledbury at the 14th, up of 20 positions.

Unfortunatelly even Massimo Bottura lost a position being this year at the 5th place with his Osteria Francescana, while the other two italians, Le calandre and Il canto are at the 32nd and 46th position.

At this point waiting for the chance to book a table in one of these great restaurants, I will share with you my last experience to one good italian restaurant in London: Alloro.

I really enjoyed a lot the dinner there with my other two italian friend @federilli and @gi_nav. Respect to previous dinners in other italian restaurants, we spent slightly more but every dish was superb and really tasty.

Here some pictures from Alloro, where you can find our Pastificio dei Campi pasta too.

Agnolotti del plin al sugo d’arrosto

Traditional pasta parcel filled with roast pork & veal

Linguine di Gragnano agli scampi

Pastificio dei Campi linguine with fresh scampi

Tartar di salmone con insalata di panzanella

Salmon tartar with “panzanella” salad

Zuppa di pesce con pane bruschettato

Traditional fish soup with toasted bread

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But also with lots of families and cute children

As you may know i spend the last saturday at Massimo’s Restaurant and Oyster bar where took place a really nice event organized by Slow Food UK. The purpose was to let the children experiment with food and get curious, open towards new ingredients and to know them a bit better.

Massimo Riccioli was there to explain and to let the family try the classic roman dishes created with simple and good ingredients like Rigatoni with bolognese sauce, panzanella, focaccia with Parma ham , arancini,  suppli and some great fried prawn and calamars. These were absolutely amazing!

Then Slow Food prepared a long table with 5 tasting experience for all the children to get involved with the food, using all their senses. As you can see from the pictures they had great fun and they seems to be amazed by it. 

Pastificio dei Campi was there too with Food in the city, ready to explain a bit more about pasta, such a simple ingredient but so full of interesting stories: from the ingredients used to make it, to the roughness, from the drying process to the different shapes and their pairing with sauces.

For me it was really funny to play with the children, explaining them all about it, let them touch the pasta and show them the different shapes.

But I also had the chance to know much more about the Slow food educational projects like Slow food baby that has the aim to show how to introduce a varied healthy range of first foods and flavours to babies, or Slow food on Campus that brings the enjoyment of food to University students across the UK and lots more. You can check all the projects here: slowfood.org.uk

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For a luxurious 2012

New year and a new place to try. Finally, after a long time I was listening people speaking about it, I went to “pay my visit” to the famous Bob Bob Ricard  a restaurant near Carnaby Street.

The place is stunning and it is worth to go even only to admire the design and the details of the restaurant. The designer David Collins, took inspiration by the “train travel in Edwardian times: emerald green leather banquettes topped by little curtains of brass mesh, marble tables, constructivist chandeliers” as said by  the Evening Standard,  and the logo everywhere, from the pavement to the box of chips, without speaking about the bell on the wall to ask for more Champagne. Everything is extremely curated and luxurious. Incredible!

Head Chef James Walker has created a menu of great English and Russian classics with ingredients “sourced from small, traditionally run farms, dairies, fisheries and family-owned producers mainly in the British Isles” as written on the website. BBR is also famous for its selection of rare Vintage Vodkas and Caviar, so i decided to start exactly form here: Iranian Cure Caviar with Blinis and sour cream.

Then I tried another signature dish, for how much weird it can seems: the lobster burger and the Cornish crab cake. If I didn’t like so much this last one, that was a bit too heavy and greasy, the Lobster burger was fantastic. This was serves with French fries and for dessert I tried this stunning Grand Marnier soufflé you can see below. It was incredible…but of course the prize of the place it’s a bit too high.

If you want to live a 360 new dinner experience, the place it’s the right one, but be careful with your choices.

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Two cool places in one

Are you looking for a special place to go with your partner in these holidays? Or are you organizing a special Christmas lunch or dinner with friends?

I have a special place to tell you about: HIX and the Mark’s bar.

Some weeks ago in fact I had the pleasure to be invited at the restaurant from a friend of mine that is always speaking about it… now I understand why.

The restaurant opened by the chef Mark Hix in 2009 serves pure english cuisine, one of the best I have ever tried. He is frequently lauded as one of London’s most eminent restaurateurs with an unrivalled knowledge of ingredients with provenance. Mark has a monthly column in Esquire, a weekly column in The Independent, and is the author of a number of cookbooks on British cuisine.

The restaurant is on the top while the amazing cocktail bar, in a New York vibe, is downstairs. Here you really have plenty of drinks to try, one better than the other. They are designed by mixologist extraordinaire Nick Strangeway. I suggest to everyone who is thinking to go there to have at least one cocktail downstairs and then go for dinner upstairs or even remain down and try the great dishes offered at the bar. Everything is  perfect and the food is really good.

We spoke with the waitress and she was a real food passionate, knowing all the places where they were sourcing the products. From the cherries to the meat, from the cheeses to the oysters… and of course I asked if they were also serving some pasta dish, but unfortunately they just serves English cuisine. I could really see Pastificio dei Campi in one of Mark’s restaurant. The love for the good food and high quality products is the same that we have.

Get inspired by the amazing cocktails and food we have tried there: Martini Sbagliato, Champaign cocktail, Brookfield farm veal dumpling with creamed Savoy cabbage while my friend took an Hanger steak with baked bone marrow, selection of ice cream with hot chocolate sauce!

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 Elegance, traditions and great italian food

I know italians who come here every single sunday to enjoy their italian sunday lunch! I loved their traditional menu and I'm happy to say that between all the good products they use, they have also our trofie and orecchiette.

Do you want to know a bit more about its history and why Cecconi is a name in London?

“Enzo Cecconi – the youngest ever general manager of the famous Cipriani restaurant in Venice – came to London in 1978 and opened Cecconi’s. It became an overnight success and in the 80s it was a Mecca for the rich and the royal (one lunchtime, during Ascot week, one waiter remembers serving members of four different royal families on four different tables). Enzo Cecconi believed in spectacular food and spectacular service. He brought theatre in to the restaurant, finishing guests’ dishes in front of their eyes and showing them the magic of the food, which until that point had been kept behind the closed doors of the kitchen.”

At the moment Simone Serafini is head chef and Giacomo Maccioni, who has been at Cecconi’s since 1990, continues to look after the restaurant as manager.

I went there for the first time some weeks ago and I was impressed by its beautiful  salon, the massive bar and the refined atmosphere and service. Here are my personal choices that I suggest to you all, in case you are planning to go there soon:

 I would start with one of our pasta dishes: Trofie, tomato sauce & smoked ricotta or Orecchiette, cime di rapa & walnuts. In this case I asked for a mixed recipe: Orecchiette with tomato sauce and smoked ricotta. Delicious!

As a main there is no doubt you need to try the veal milanese asking for a side order of zucchini fritti, but I can tell you that even the beef tagliata is fabulous.

And for dessert there is really a difficult choice to make:

Vanilla cheesecake & Italian strawberries that is great, or Chocolate fondant, pistachio ice cream that required 12 minutes but it’s absolutely worth the waiting time or even the Pear tart with vanilla anglaise, a fantastic cream that gives the final touch to the reach pear cake.

Any other question about traditional Italian places in London? One more on your list especially for a traditional Sunday lunch.

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An occasion to meet Pastificio dei Campi too.

We are happy to announce that we are part of this big event starting today at London Olympia: MasterChef Live 2011.

You probably know very well the Tv programme MasterChef, great occasion for lots of people passionate about cooking and food to try the street of the success, challenging them self with recipes and complicate dishes until the selection of the best one. Based on that show, this event will let you take part to the live challenge, at least as the audience if not as a contestant. (Thanks for the picture at the blog Morethancupcakes.com)

From today until Sunday (11-13 November)  in fact in Olympia  there will be plenty of good food, chefs, restaurant experiences, tasting sessions, wine and food shows, challenges between contestants and real chefs and lot more.

Come and see John Torode and Gregg Wallace, get a master class from Michel Roux Jr. Also, watch MasterChef Professionals Champion of 2010, Claire Lara or cook-off against this year’s MasterChef Champion, Tim Anderson. Come to see the Producers' Village, a space just dedicated to local producers who specialise in seasonal and home-grown produce. But especially…come to meet us at the stand F24.

And if you really can’t be there with us, follow me on Twitter (@linguinadc) and check my Facebook page, to have all the latest news and pictures directly from the event.

See you there?

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