In an attempt to continue balancing out my restaurant reviews by eating at restaurants starting with letters in the last five letters of the alphabet. I headed to Zafferano. Zafferano is an obvious choice for people who love Italian food. It wears the one Michelin star badge, which puts it in a category with The River Cafe, Locanda Locatelli, Apsleys and Semplice, the last two I have never had the fortune to visit mainly due to not winning the lottery (Apsleys) and never really having heard about it until a couple of weeks ago (Semplice).
The restaurant is a bit of an icon at 16 years old, but suprisingly, its star is just three. My expectations of Zafferano were not that high. I assumed it was similar to Locatelli, where I found the restaurant stuffy and the food dull and under seasoned. I could not have been more wrong.
Zafferano is yet another great place for "spot the expensive handbag". In terms of this league, Zafferano is the clear winner - I saw a seven year old with a handbag that costs more than many people's cars.
The location is also ritzy. Its next to a Christian Louboutin store, and I vowed next time I was mad at The Boyfriend, to book it for lunch, order a bottle of champagne and post-meal drag The, semi-lucid but very well fed, Boyfriend next door.
Oddly, the restaurant was not even full, which for a Friday night seemed strange, although a bit reassuring that if you ever need a truly outstanding meal at a last minutes notice, Zafferano can help you out. Anyway, we started with a glass of champagne, some bread (not life changing) and some sort of deep fried pasta (much more exciting. So exciting in fact, that I felt a little heartbroken when the waitress took the last one away before I could eat it.)
I started with Bresola and Rocket in a goats cheese dressing. Now, I'm not really a salad fan and definitely not a rocket fan, so it says something if the dressing is so good on a salad I want to devour the whole thing. It was and I did.
The Boyfriend opted for a Octopus, Potato and Olive Salad, mainly to compare with the other italian restaurants we had been trying lately. This one was far superior to both Cecconis and Il Baretto. It was less complicated and fussy and really just let the three flavours speak for themselves. I know people always go on about how "you can taste a difference in the quality of ingredients" and to be honest, a lot of the time I really can't taste the difference between a "happy, free range chicken that had the most perfect life in the world until it died" and a chicken. Zafferano was different, that quality of the ingredients was so high, that even a simple combination of flavours tasted truly amazing.
So far,so good.
For the pasta course I ordered the Fregula, with seafood. What struck me about the dish, was the sheer amount of seafood. The menu at Zafferano is semi-set, two courses for X pounds, three courses for X + 10 pounds and four courses for X+20 pounds. Some of the items had a supplement on them, but suprisingly the Fregula containing half the Atlantic Ocean had no such thing. There were clams, mussels, scallops and langoustine all in a tomato soup like sauce. It was again, great. My one very small complaint, if I really, really was looking for something, was that I wished there had been a little more Fregula but this was pretty damn good.
The Boyfriend went for the Pheasant Ravioli. I found the pheasant flavour a little too strong but The Boyfriend, as always, enjoyed it.
The Truffle menu is located at the back of the normal menu at Zafferano. The Boyfriend and I decided to accurately judge the restaurant, something off this menu had to be tasted. The Whole Roast Chicken, with leaks, mash potato and black truffle (£15.00 per person supplement, for a minimum of two people) was good, but not life changing. The truffle was incorporated into all three components, which was a little overpowering and meant that all three flavours were vaguely similar. The chicken was on the chewy side although I imagine it was one of those "happy, free range chicken that had the most perfect life in the world until it died" chickens. I should also note that the portions were so large by the time we had reached the main course both of us were stuffed.
Despite this, we ordered Apple Pie and both of us managed to eat it. It was like the rest of the meal. Simple but perfectly executed.
Not innovative cooking, no weird combinations of flavours, science or things cooked in front of you. No food that resembles art, or waiters in outfits that match the decor . At Zafferano, the ingredients and the cooking are enough. The service merits no complaints, bar the waitress stealing the last fried pasta thing. It was efficient and swift, and our meal took a little under two hours - not bad, for four courses and three little bits too. At a little over £100 a head its not exactly cheap.This is, in part, due to our ordering a fairly expensive bottle of wine, two glasses of champagne and a taste of the truffle menu, all of which weren't that necessary. Its just a shame that simple, great food is this expensive. But still it was worth every penny.
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