Sadly, reality fell far short of expectations.
The Tavistock street location (there's another branch in St. James) doesn't officially open until Monday, so we knew they'd still be working through details. And, indeed, on the service side there's still a lot to do. We waited ages to order, even though our 6:45 booking made us one of the first tables seated. By the end of the meal, we figured this was actually a "small plates" restaurant, like a tapas place or Maze, where we were supposed to order four or five options per person, share and nibble. But nobody explained that, leaving us to figure it out when much smaller-than-expected dishes hit the table. Dishes came randomly: one first course ages before the other two; the missing two arriving almost at the same time as the second course; one of us getting her second course well after the other three; wine glasses and cutlery cleared at points when we weren't finished with them.All of this is excusable for a soft launch week, and practice will no doubt get things running smoothly soon. We were ready to ignore such hiccoughs. But we expected the food itself to be much better.
Regular readers of this blog will know that as a descendant of food-obsessed Italian immigrants and a serious cook myself, my evaluation of any Italian restaurant is quite simple. If I'm paying for it, it should be better than I could produce at home. Hartnett's flagship Murano delivers food that leaves mine ... and pretty much everyone else's ... in the dust. In inspiration, technique and presentation, she starts with Italian classics and takes them to a whole new level. Cafe Murano is supposed to be a more casual, everyday restaurant, so we didn't think we'd be getting exactly the same here. But I still thought the food would be something special. With the exception of two dishes, it was basic stuff I'd expect at any mid-market Italian, or produced without much difficulty in my own kitchen.
Let's start with the exceptions. There's a crab salad, its salty/savoury tang cut with tiny diced bits of sweet/tart apple, lightly dressed to add just a bit of additional flavour, that we all agreed was the dish of the evening. At the other end of the night, they delivered one of the best tiramisus I've ever had. Though the dish seems to be on most Italian menus, it's rarely done properly, often lacking balance and going too heavy on the cream. This was a dish of subtle elegance, with the cream, cake, coffee and chocolate all weaving in a graceful culinary minuet.
Everything else, sadly, was just average. Grilled baby artichokes were pleasant, but that's more down to sourcing the veg than any great skill. Octopus salad tasted little different from the version I can buy at my local Italian deli. Ditto the bresaola. Having been treated to some exceptional gnocchi the day before at The Vineyard, I thought I'd have another go; these suffered in comparison, having less taste and none of the lightness of the earlier offering. Farfalle with giroles and peas and rabbit leg were pleasant enough, but nothing memorable. Pigeon came to the table charred almost black, with little attempt at presentation and no sauce. The hungriest amongst us ordered the lamb shoulder, expecting a manly, substantial dish, and got a few strands of meat atop a plate of beans. After three courses, he admitted he was still hungry enough to pick up a snack on the way home.
In exchange for being guinea pigs during soft launch week, we got to try the food for half price. That made the experience palatable. But don't make the mistake of thinking this simple food is going to come at a simple price. Checking out the existing Cafe Murano's menu, and assuming you're going to order four small plates per person to make a full meal (and you might need a side vegetable as well, since the main courses come with little accompaniment) you'll easily be at £50 per person before you start into drinks. And there are few bargains on the wine list. It's an intriguing one, with many tempting Italian varieties rarely seen in London, but the cheapest bottles were in the £30s and the average price looked at least a tenner higher.
Murano St. James gets consistently good reviews. It may be that we just suffered a series of mishaps, or that we ordered badly at this new sister. All I know is that I went in needing to book a spot for dinner with two friends next week, and thought I might try to nab a table for a quick return. By dessert, I'd dismissed the possibility. The quality of the food just doesn't justify the cost. If I wanted Italian small plates, I'd return to Ciccheti on Piccadilly (review here), where we had similar food with better presentation and more reasonable prices last December. Ultimately, I'd rather save up my money and return to the Murano mothership. Its magic simply didn't translate into its more casual spin-off.
No comments:
Post a Comment