Last Updated on December 16, 2024
The Megaro Hotel’s Spagnoletti Restaurant continues to astonish
4.5 out of 5.0 starsWhen we first visited Spagnoletti earlier this year, the quirky Italian restaurant had just announced the appointment of Adam Simmonds as chef patron there. As we observed then, this place flies under the radar despite some astonishingly good food at reasonable prices and a location that makes it ultra-convenient if you happen to be travelling to or from King’s Cross Station.
We’ve been lucky enough to return to check out the Spagnoletti five-course festive menu. This time, having read Lucy’s review from May, I was determined to go myself – accompanied by our original reviewer who liked it enough to need to go back.
Spagnoletti is a striking and colourful venue. Bright yellow spaghetti-like pipework intersects the walls and ceilings, and the playful decor includes a cheese-grater clock and a yellow telephone box. It looks a little like an Italian take on the American Diner, but, as I discovered, the food is so much more!
We started the evening with cocktails. My Flor de Sevilla (alcohol-free) gin was one of the best I’ve tasted, served with an orange garnish and good quality tonic, I really didn’t miss the booze. Meanwhile, Lucy was happy to indulge in what was a strong, well-balanced spicy margarita. Alcoholic cocktails are £11 while my zero alcohol gin and tonic was just £5.
The Chef’s Festive Menu is a curated selection of dishes that also appear on the all-day dining menu, but have been put together to make a celebratory multi-course dinner at just £55 per person. One of the joys of this type of dining is that the decision about what to try is made for me, by people who can make a qualified recommendation and understand the concept of a gastronomic journey.
First on the menu was the charcoal sourdough bread served with olive oil that Lucy raved about on her previous visit. Rich, fruity olive oil complemented the remarkably light, crusty charcoal sourdough.
The tiny suckling pig and black pudding croquettes, coated in what I believe was a chickpea flour crust, were served with a sauce gribiche (chopped eggs, capers, herbs and mustard in a light oil). The melting suckling pig had just enough black pudding to bring out the sweetness of the meat and the sauce gribiche cut through the mixture perfectly. We were left craving more.
Next, a stunning artichoke dish with a mixture of artichoke puree topped with fragrant petals, encased in a lardo shell and sprinkled with tiny morsels of deep-fried artichoke, caviar and micro herbs
La Latteria burrata is something special. Italian cream cheeses are challenging to transport and should be eaten fresh. The solution, for an Italian craving the foods of her home to make Italian cheese in London, produces great results and Spagnoletti’s autumnal dish of La Latteria burrata with butternut squash, mandarin and truffle, is a deliciously moreish combination of flavours
Pasta served al-dente, Italian style, followed. Tortiglioni with prawn and chilli was a robust and spicy flavour combination with morsels of sun-dried tomatoes just adding a touch of sweetness to the dish
This isn’t the kind of tasting menu where you will leave hungry – and the sharing plate of grilled octopus with salmoriglio sauce, crisp fried potato and sweet, tiny taggiasche olives was an excellent demonstration of that. Too much for us, the tender, smokey octopus was utterly delicious. I’d personally have liked a little more salmoriglio sauce but I suspect that might be because I’ve been trying to make my own version of this fragrant lemon and oil-based Sicilian dressing
Porchetta came with a crunchy crackling topping, a generous helping of finely shaved fennel in a citrusy dressing, parsley and salsa verde. It’s a celebratory Italian dish, though normally for Easter rather than Christmas –
To round off the meal, we were served a truly delicious salted caramel ganache with praline and banana ice cream. The rich, smooth chocolate ganache was punctuated by a generous helping of popping candy making a perfectly sized naughty sweet end to the meal.
Paired wines are available for this menu and for the chef’s special mauve menu (£85), but my companion doesn’t drink red wine so instead we opted for a Pecorino from Abruzzo. Feudo Antico Tribum Pecorino Biologico comes from a small vineyard in the heart of Abruzzo and has lots of fruity, floral notes, a full mouth feel and plenty of length.
I was delighted to experience Spagnoletti for myself and not in the least disappointed by the Chef’s festive menu. It is somewhere I’ll be adding to my address book, a stone’s throw from pricey Coal Drop Yard but with food that surpasses expectation, a vibrant quirky interior and welcoming staff
Located in The Megaro Hotel
Spagnoletti
27 Euston Rd.,
London NW1 2SD
Read our original review of Spagnoletti King’s Cross
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