Macellaio RC - South Kensington (South Kensington)

• The restaurant announces its intentions with a full butcher case just inside the door
• Behind the bar is the dining room
• A nice mix of modern and pastoral with a few reminders of the provenance of the inspiration for the food
• With three local friends (we were 2 guys and 2 girls) back for their second visit
• We generally stuck with the bread and butter of the house
• I took carpaccio garnished with rocket and mozzarella to start
• The carpaccio was a bit thicker than I have usually had
• Two of my mates went with the rosemary entrecô
• The one odd part of the meal was that no plates came with the fresh bread
• So we waited until the courses came out to try it with olive oil and balsamic
• The dining room is in two parts
• The first room as you enter features a large meat counter with a few tables
• The chef here is Rafaelle Cozzolino
• What interested me is that Maxela specialises in Fassone beef
• This Piedmontese meat is interesting in a number of ways
• Only female cattle are used here (the male cattle can have a gamey flavour when aged)
• A burger using the high quality beef was available for just £
• Given that there are some fairly serious wines on the list
• It is irritating that vintages are not listed (I only found about about the vintage of the Antinori wine by asking to see the bottle)
• Fresh taglierini pasta was served with a ragu
• The tomato sauce with meat having quite full flavour (14/20)
• The rump steak was offered with rocket and shaven ricotta
• Even better was a rib eye of the Fassone
• Had deeper flavour and was genuinely top class
• Unfortunately it was accompanied by some truly dire fries
• Were actually hand cut but were limp yet leathery
• Thickened milk flavoured with lemon zest and sugar is put into a blast chiller to solidify
• One of the best burgers I have ever had
• Juicy and the taste of the 'tagliata' was one for the senses
• I also had a couple of conversations with the waiter in between courses about meat and wine combos
• Course it is slightly expensive to eat here but fitting for a special occasion or two
• Authentic Italian food with an intimate and warm ambience
• The desert is incredible and everything is homemade
• You cant go wrong with the homemade tiramisu or cheesecake
• I spied a shop front with a bright red awning
• I remembered Marie saying to 'look for the shopfront with lots of meat' I looked at the window and knew that I was in the right place
• Luckily he was in town so we did what we always do and picked a place to gorge ourselves silly
• S definitely an apt name as the front window is a dry aging cabinet and the first thing you see when you walk in is a display of meat and a butcher going to town on a beautiful forerib
• The steaks are butchered to order and that display pretty much sums up what you are in
• Consistently the best steak I've had in London

Read More