Cucina Asellina - ME London (Aldwych)

• So the 'ME London' is an impressive Hotel
• Mrs C and I were staying at the hotel and decided to have dinner there too
• It tasted better once the oil and bal was lazily delivered
• Wild mushrooms with fontina were tasty and a first for me
• S truffle and mascarpone pappardelle was very tasty
• The portion size was hearty and the sauce perfect to be mopped up with crusts of bread
• We washed this down with a no nonsense bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
• It paired well with the truffle and my over peppered
• The cosy feel I was expecting was replaced with more of a buzz
• It was Saturday night and we were invited to a birthday party at Radio Bar at the ME London Hotel
• The ME London hotel is perfectly positioned near Covent Garden and Trafalgar square within easy reach of theatres
• The innovative design of the hotel really hits you as you walk and there is nothing quite like it in London
• Is modern and cosmopolitan with cutting edge design elements
• Before meeting our friends it was dinner first
• On the Saturday night the restaurant was packed out and lively
• Lamb chops with a delicious ragout on the side
• The lemon cake was spongy and just perfect
• The dishes are prepared very well and there are also a lot of freebies that are served along with them
• The prices are also very reasonable and you will have a wholesome meal
• The pizza that I had was an absolute delight and the quality of ingredients used in the preparation of it was amazingly fresh
• The presentation was also quite good and the food was delicious
• This was my second visit to Cucina Asellina - ME London (Aldwych) and it was not as good as the first time
• The dining area is nice and the waiters are polite and efficient
• I personally felt that the wine list was very over priced
• Especially the calamari and paillard which was cooked to perfection
• The service was pretty decent as well
• The ambience is great with wonderful decor
• This Italian restaurant is not so easy to locate to begin with
• The interiors are different and might not appeal to some
• The pasta was delicious and rest everything was just mediocre
• The service is also just OK
• The advantage of choosing lunch over dinner is that Cucina Asselina offers their best lunch dishes on the menu at just £
• Amazingly they are even running the offer at the weekends
• Cucina Asselina is a high end expert in their cuisine
• As the weather was gorgeous on Sunday when we visited
• The overall feel was very relaxed and we settled in easily
• She shared with us her favourite dishes and drinks from the menu
• The menu itself is packed with gorgeous ingredients that
• To start we went for a beef carpaccio with mozzarella and rocket
• Quails egg and fennel salad with braised fennel on the side
• While Alex chose a dish of gnocchi with slim beans and pesto with a side of polenta chips
• It was also beautifully presented with a stick of three fruits on the top and plenty of ice
• Alex and our waitress decided on a dry white wine (house) which was wonderfully crisp and refreshing for the afternoon sun
• Inoffensive and easy to pair with our choice of dishes
• The wine had notes of kiwi and pineapple which were easily identifiable
• Polenta bread with rosemary and salt and thin bread sticks
• The board also came with a bowl of crushed olives
• In fact this is a good time to note that I found most of our dishes very salty
• I adored the polenta bread which was rich with rosemary (my favourite herb) and incredibly light
• Both plates were well presented and brightly coloured
• We started with the calamari
• Yellow and green peppers than were mixed in with the strips of calamari gave a really sweet note that balanced the salty seafood
• The beef was clearly of a high grade and the accompanying elements worked really well with the flavour
• Milky mozzarella with rocket (which was amazingly not super peppery)
• I felt like I was sat in a deli in Rome
• His polenta chips were gorgeous too
• Happily it featured lots of salmon (which can often be scrimped on) which was just lukewarm
• Plenty of spaces with an open kitchen
• Turn out she doesn't have a clue what that is which was a bit of a shock for me and she had to ask a more senior bartender for help
• Really unexpected as after all we were at a hotel restaurant sitting behind its bar
• The quality of olive oil was bit of a let down
• Ve probably heard me ranting over the past few months now about my disappointment in Italian restaurants and my quest to find the best London has to offer
• The restaurant is located on the ground floor of the hotel and walking through this restaurants doors is like stepping into a calm and luxurious tranquil haven
• The food is Italian tapas style (I hate sharing) but here the portion sizes are so perfect you don&rsquo
• A cheeky Aperol spritz (of course) and some bread was brought over to the table &ndash
• Surprisingly the menu here at Cucina Asellina is very affordable
• We started with a refreshing and vibrant buratta salad with mixed grilled vegetables
• The buratta stole the show and was every bit as sour
• A small but perfectly formed pizza was great for sharing and cooked to absolute perfection
• Two dishes on the menu were screaming out at me &ndash
• A solid offering from the frittura mista arrived with a small but meaty soft shell crab
• The garlic aioli dipping sauce was rather good too
• Or perhaps of the whole meal was our grilled tuna
• Everything in this dish was cooked incredibly well
• Coated in a thick parsley crumb and a side of rosemary potatoes was on the menu
• My only annoyance over this dish was that these lamb chops were served as one whole piece of the two chops &ndash
• Trying to split it for sharing was a very messy affair
• Apart from that its flavour and cooking were absolutely perfect &ndash
• Even the rosemary potatoes were well cooked and properly seasoned
• The only downside to Cucina Asellina (if there really was one) were that we wanted to eat just about everything on the menu and it&rsquo
• D expected and was more similar to pasta shells but thankfully that didn&rsquo
• Things were going very well with our meal here
• Perhaps all too well because our dessert of luke warm apple tart with cinnamon gelato failed to excite and its stodgy cake mixture slightly undercooked and too wet
• A real shame because the rest of the food here at Cucina Asellina was absolutely sublime
• The best thing about about travelling is the memories that you make
• Those special moments that you share that are captured in a photograph or remain forever in your mind
• I was really impressed with the cooking at Cucina Asellia
• The mushroom risotto (which in my opinion was delectable
• The dishes came promptly and were very well presented
• Dessert I had the panna cotta which was also delicious
• Along with a spoonful of my sister's tiramisu which was beautifully presented as a cappuccino in a cappuccino cup
• The staff were amazing and the bubbles ensured I was merry throughout

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