Monday 4 April 2011

Cecconi's, Mayfair

Spaghetti lobster


Cecconi's is a classic, old school, slightly glamorous and definitely-good-for-celebrity- spotting restaurant in the heart of Mayfair. It's the type of place to drop in at the bar for an excellent bowl of pasta and champagne, or a fine veal milanese, after a hard day's perusing the diamond jewellers and designer wares of New Bond Street. As you do.

TPG and I did just that (although unfortunately my hands were glaringly rockless and frockless at the time, despite my best efforts). The stripey black and white floor and green leather seats with art deco fittings give it a certain charm and its easy to while away an hour or so at the bar with a book, or to settle in for a longer session with friends at a table.




As I was largely feasting on champagne on our last visit, I snacked on a cichetti sized plate of plump baby octopus with dreamily creamy polenta (£8) - even TPG, who won't normally eat polenta,  lapped it up. TPG had a fantastic bowl of perfectly cooked spaghetti lobster which, while pricey, put most the attempts of most other similarly priced establishments to shame (£26). Generous amounts of sweet, fresh lobster meat and rich tomatoes flirted with satisfyingly al dente strings of pasta. Why is it so hard for other restaurants to make Italian food this good?

Starters are priced around £7-£12, pasta at £10-£20 (or £26 for the spaghetti lobster) and mains at £19-£28 - fair prices for the location, setting and quality.

We've had breakfast at Cecconi's several times before, when the venue somehow loses most of its charm and serves up far more boring fare and average coffee. Stick to bubbly at the bar, or the lunch and dinner menu.  The £46 set menu (3 courses) has just made my "to do" list.

Cecconi's, 5a Burlington Gardens, Mayfair, London W1S 3EP (Tel: 020 7434 1500)

Cecconi's on Urbanspoon

8 comments:

  1. I had a similar experience dining at the bar there, the food was really nice. And I just love their prosecco from the tab!
    I also don't know why it is so difficult to get good Italian - I mean there are some good places but considering the seize of London, there are so few! (and so many crap ones...)

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  2. LOVE Cecconi, great food, great atmosphere.... and always really difficult to choose as it's all so tempting!

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  3. Oh I'm jealous - there and Scotts is on my list of "want to be treated hint HINT HINT" places - food looks fabulous :) x

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  4. Ahhh! I'm a fan of Cecconi's too! I've only been for brunch though... I avoided it for ages thinking it would be expensive and snobby but once we actually tried it, we loved it and have been back several times. The lobster spaghetti looks great, perhaps I need to go NOT for brunch :)

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  5. I walked past here yesterday at about 4pm and it was completely full, seemed a strange time for everyone to be sitting down for meals.

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  6. Mmmmm the lobster pasta looks good!

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  7. The lobster pasta looks great, though rather too much tomato skin for my liking...

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  8. Ute - I'm with you.

    Giginav - Yes, so much to choose from.

    Sasha - I'm totally up for Scott's too (it's on the list).

    Catty - GO FOR PASTA.

    Joshua - It always seems to be full actually. You never know when the lobster spaghetti craving will take hold.

    Gourmet Butcher - Yuh!

    Lizzie - Was lovely.

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