Al Mare restaurant review: Forget La Dolche Vita, there’s an ideal Italian escape in SW1
Living and working in the Square Mile, I rarely venture too far west, but when I do I get all the rush of a foreign holiday. There’s the expansive feel of the grand parklands and the glamorous feel of the hotels with air-conditioned lobbies.
Then there’s the contrasting intimacy of the red brick mansions on the backstreets that connect South Kensington and Sloane Square. Screw the beach holiday: my late summer tip is a trip on the Central Line.
The new Al Mare restaurant translates to ‘to the sea’ in Italian. Found on the fringes of the gorgeous and remote Cadogan Square, a visit afforded me the opportunity to go to this perfectly serene west London enclave you’d only land upon when you have reason to. It could have inspired the setting for the family house in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.
A pithy poem by Italian writer Salvatore Quasimodo on the Al Mare website and printed menu manages to feel sweet without being completely cringey, giving away an idea of the approach to high quality escapism here. “Even more so at night the sea still sounds, lightly, up and down, along the smooth sands. Echo of an enclosed voice in the mind, that returns in time,” it begins.
Anyway, enough of that: we sat down at an apricot coloured banquette sofa in the window where half the point is the Cadogan Square view. Windows frame the trees in the garden that’s protected by freshly painted jet black gates that remind you that you’re absolutely not invited in.
I interspersed looking out the window with good conversation and eating brilliantly modern spins on Italian classics that are absolutely worth travelling for. Italian head chef Marco Calenzo was Executive Chef at the Zuma restaurant group, three of which have Michelin stars, and his experience sings in the dishes.
For starters, tuna dish Tonno al Tartufo Nero had a deep blood red colour and a sharp and exciting just-out-of-sea freshness. A neat circle of truffle shaved on top suited those of us (me) that feel relief when their raw food is disguised as something else entirely.
A Risotto all’o Zafferano uses ‘Piana di Navelli’ saffron, one of the world’s rarest varities, and has a gently alluring fragrance hit at odds with the immediacy of the lemon-hued bright colour of the dish.
Although the late-summer sun hadn’t the strength of the Italian heat, the rays shining through the window made me feel I had left SW1 behind
Then there was Linguine all’Astice, a blue lobster linguine with a similarly gorgeous saline flavour to the tuna. Fans of the vitality of lobster will rave about this ultra-intense spin, where the meat is served in an exquisite bisque. Although the late-summer sun when I visited hadn’t the strength of the Italian heat, the rays we had shining through the window made me feel I had left W1 behind. It was the clearest symbol of the kitchen’s exciting creativity and worth the visit alone.
For mains the highlight was fall-apart-in-mouth juicy Vitello alla Milanese the likes of which no British chef can stake claim to, at least not without having organised a pilgrimage to mainland Europe first. It would have suited a taut light red wine, but we had a white to go off-piste and we hope chef Calenzo, whose whole vibe is experimental spins, would be proud.
An Aperol sour cocktail was another risky move that paid off: just one final welcome dose of gastronomic innovation one Friday afternoon when I ventured to that farthest flung of places: west London.
Al Mare restaurant is within The Carlton Tower Jumeirah, 1 Cadogan Place, SW1X 9PY. Read more from City PM’s Life&Style pages here