Babbo - London, definitely not New York

How the people behind Babbo got away with taking the name of one of the most famous Italian restaurants in NYC's name, I don't know. All I know is that ever since it opened, its been on my list, just like the one in NYC. Deep in the heart of Mayfair, the crowd is surprisingly un-scene - a mix of business people, and older couples - not a flash of a red sole in sight. As per usual, I was optimistic about Babbo, mainly because of a) the name b) this interview here, in which the chef states his favourite restaurant is La Petite Maison. As we already agree on what a good dining experience is - this was clearly going to be the place for me. Sadly, fate just didn't want me and Babbo to have that special connection. Our experience was one of the most disappointing I've had in a while.

Da Mario- a neighbourhood find

Good neighbourhood restaurants aren't easy to find at the best of times. In Central London, its a bloody nightmare. In Covent Garden I assumed it wouldn't be possible. Surprisingly, I found one.  Da Mario is an unassuming little place, from the outside and from the inside, but with an almost perfect Urbanspoon rating, it seemed to be worth a shot. 

Vapiano - Italian food organized by Germans

It is a dream combination. Italian food, created in an incredibly efficient way. This is what Vapiano is all about. There is no messing about wasting time trying to work out who pays what, as every person is given a card, that they then "charge" food and drinks to at a selection of various stations. Your food is made to order at one of each station whilst you watch (pasta, antipasti), or just collect them (dessert or drinks), or order and get a buzzer (Pizza). It works out perfectly. Each person gets what they want, charged to them and can edit their dish to their particular liking - no basil, no issue, no garlic, no problem. Even better, you can get it to go (their pasta makes a very good breakfast), and their takeaway boxes are perfectly lunch sized Tupperware. In fact, this is possibly one of my favourite casual places to go. It is great place to meet up with old friends, as the lack of service means no-one really cares if you sit there for four hours, as I did last Tuesday.

Princi - The Happiest Place on Earth

There is one over riding factor that puts me off visiting a restaurant - a lack of information. Apparently, this is cool at the moment  and seems to be a common  theme with new restaurants, I blame Nuno Mendes and Russel Norman. As a control freak, I hate this. A normal trip to a restaurant is incrediby well researched - I tend to know everything about the place before I show up - I know what I am going to eat, what the place looks like, and roughly how much the experience will cost me.

Travels in Italy (2) - Tuscany

We had five days in Tuscany, and in those five days, with a car and a trusty TomTom we covered most of the area. I have no idea why but both The Boyfriend and I had very high expectations of Tuscan food. For some reason we seemed to think that even if we ended up in a Tourist Trap food would still be much better than your average restaurant. As if any restaurant in Tuscany was automatically destined to be better than the rest because of the region's culinary heritage. How wrong we were. Of the ten meals only three were memorable. Another three were goodish, and the other four were either okay or crap. They are ranked in a complex equation of quality of food + view or venue + price, and by complex I mean we just vaguely remember which ones were the best -a suprisingly difiicult feat (but understandably difficult if you look at how much wine we consumed, sometimes I'm amazed we even managed to take photos of the stuff). Anyway, here goes.

Massimo

There were several factors that put a lot of pressure on my visit to Massimo. First and foremost, this opening was the one that I had most been looking forward to out of all the other restaurant openings this year. Whilst Dinner and Pollen Street Social (PSS) were what most people were excited about, this one was my baby. Why? Because, I love Italian food and there's a startling lack of decent Italian places that I have found, especially given my issues with Il Baretto. Secondly, because the chef is from Zuma and I love Zuma. This in itself would have been enough pressure to potentially ruin my weekend if it was a bad experience. In addition to this, a combination of factors meant I had not been out to a restaurant in two weeks. The fact that the last time I ate out was at Pollen Street Social,  which set such a high bar didn't help either. And finally, in the same time span, I had been reading Heat by Bill Buford, (I highly recommend you do, too), which has not only increased my knowledge about Italian food, but also has basically had me drooling, so much so that the pages are all a bit crinkley.

Amaranto -

Please note:  I visited Amaranto at the beginning of February before my blog took a vacation therefore, I'm a little hazy on names, which I didn't write down at the time! Regardless, I can still remember how fabulous the octopus was. Anyway, so here it goes. 

Amaranto is the newly opened Italian restaurant in the newly refurbished Four Seasons. Which must be one of the world’s longest refurbishments. Really, who even remembered we still had a Four Seasons on Park Lane? Anyway, it opened, so The Boyfriend, two sets of siblings, and I all went to check it out.

Jamie's Italian

So, I'm not a big Jamie Fan. I've never really been a big Jamie fan. It is not just his restaurants that I dislike, I mean Barbecoa was truly terrible, but it is more something about his attitude that I am not overly fond of. He is a bit like Marmite I think, you either love him or hate him. Potential biases aside, I thought I would try Jamie's Italian because I do appreciate that he wants to bring well cooked food to the masses, and for that I've got to respect him. In a city where eating out is so incredible expensive, it is a way nice, and probably very profitable, that he's giving people effectively "designer food" for bargain prices.

Zafferano - Not to be saved for last.

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).

Cecconi's - One For Ciccone

I love Urban Spoon. It keeps life simple. Given the number of restaurants I try, and the number of restaurants I want to try, Urban Spoon keeps things organised. However, one of the unintended consequences of my Urban Spoon Wish List is its effect on my dining patterns due to its alphabetical nature. More than 50% of my reviews to date, are about restaurants starting with the letters B and C. I am not convinced so far that this is a new trend by restauranteurs who believe that proximity to the start of the alphabet will increase business (although, clearly it does in my case!) instead when I flick on to my wish list I see the restaurant at the top of the list and think, why not? In fact, I was forced to stop myself when trying to book dinner for tonight Bar Trattoria Semplice deciding instead to book Terroirs to buck the trend.I realised this today, which meant last week I ended up at Cecconi's, with The Boyfriend, to celebrate one year of dating.

Il Baretto

Il Baretto has long been my favourite italian in London. However, this isnt to say the food is mind blowingly good. In fact, its just good. The real thing is that I have yet to find a  better alternative for Italian food. Locatelli is of the same quality but more expensive and I found the atmosphere a bit stiff. Cipriani the food terrible and more expensive. The River Cafe, I had a bad experience both food and service wise which was especially disappointing after the long trek to Hammersmith. Bocca Di Lupo I liked but not enough to book six weeks in advance again.  Tinello, was easily the worst food I've had in a while and was easily " the Biggest let down of 2010."

Bar Boulud -

Daniel Boulud is America's equivalent of Gordon Ramsey except he's not American, or bankrupt or having a public fight with his mistress/father in law/mother in-law and wife but you get my point - incredibly successful with numerous restaurants and Michelin stars . Despite being from Lyon, Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental is his first venture in Europe and when it first opened in May it received a lot of acclaim. In fact it took about 2 weeks before it became tough to get a table less than a week in advance. So finding a table on a Wednesday, for that very evening made me a very happy camper indeed.