There it was, a short stroll off Portobello Road and we stumble across this low key little restaurant, hardly noticeable as open and when you try the door, it's locked! Exciting! When one of the waiters allowed us to come in, we felt like we had just gained access to one of London's exclusive boutique restaurants.
 |
| Outside |
 |
| Inside |
Once we were inside and seated at our choice of table (a couple of old-school desks and chairs facing the restaurant), we admired the artwork as one of the owners walked us through the menu and made some food and drink recommendations. The style is kind of tapas-like in that you choose a couple of small plates and then see if you're still hungry for more.
We ordered some Aperol cocktails made with Italian mixers. Both were dry and tangy but also moderately sweet. One tasted a little bit like sour cola bottle sweeties and the other, a little like bubblegum. In any case, tasty!
For food, to start we went for the raw fish platter consisting of 4 types of raw fish, carefully prepared and dressed only in the finest olive oil and sea salt. I'd never tasted anything like it. I'm not entirely sure what we ate but the white pile, I think, was squid (not sure about the pink pile), then there were two prawns (unusual that they were pink but still raw!) and a langoustine. It was absolutely delicious - the velvety textures, the sweet flavours, the gentle compliments provided by the olive oil. And the bizarre part was that none of it tasted "fishy".
 |
| Seafood platter to share |
Our "main" tapas-like dishes were tiny teacup saucer sized portions of fish and vegetables. We thought we'd only go for one portion of veg - the purple broccoli, rather than the platter of vegetables, which was about £13(!). The other two dishes were octopus with rosemary and garlic potatoes and a type of Italian fish with parsley mash. All of these dishes were also delicious. We just wished we could have had more!
 |
| From left: Octopus, purple broccoli and fish with parley mash |
For once, I was not uncomfortably full after eating and was left longing to taste those flavours again for days after! Seriously have to go again!
The prices weren't too high-end. The starter was pretty pricey at £18 and the mains were about £7, give or take, each and you need 4-5 between 2 people. If you don't mind not having gigantic portions and truly appreciate quality over quantity, you really need to give this place a try! Approximate cost for 2 people, including a cocktail each, circa £65. And by the way, the service was outstanding!
* As an aside, I learnt recently from a Jewish friend that he classes "seafood" as prawns etc and "fish" and "shellfish" as two different categories (he will say he can't have shellfish or seafood and can only eat fish with both scales and fins - so no shark, for example). However, whenever I say "seafood", I mean ANY food from the sea.
Pescheria Mattiucci, 8 Blenheim Crescent, London, W11 1NN, Tel: 020 7229 3400
* As an aside, I learnt recently from a Jewish friend that he classes "seafood" as prawns etc and "fish" and "shellfish" as two different categories (he will say he can't have shellfish or seafood and can only eat fish with both scales and fins - so no shark, for example). However, whenever I say "seafood", I mean ANY food from the sea.
