Last Updated on January 9, 2024
Join the Family at Carlotta’s
We are developing quite an affection for the Big Mamma restaurants, despite an initial hesitance that a French-owned group could run a series of unique restaurants – a family if you like – across multiple locations in multiple countries. Some of the London restaurants are particularly lively and we think they’d make the perfect venue for a special celebration. Check our review of Jacuzzi to see what we mean. Others, like Carlotta, are more intimate. In the heart of Marylebone village, it’s the kind of place I’d happily go in the evening but, equally well suited to pre or post-shopping lunch. What a good excuse for both!
The signature Big Mamma eclectic interior is themed around boxing and weddings! The stairwell is lined with vintage wedding photos while press shots of boxers and carefully displayed silk shorts line the restaurant walls. Comfy banquette seating and cafe-style tables fill the space – for a late lunch just before Christmas Carlotta’s was packed, with prospective diners who hadn’t booked in advance taking advantage of the bar at the front of the restaurant to enjoy a cocktail.
Despite the buzzing restaurant, the staff were cheerful and efficient. Looking around, everyone was being served with a smile and dishes arrived at what seemed like just the right pace. Of course, it was just before Christmas and our waitress told us she was flying home to Bologna that evening so perhaps everyone was demob happy? Who knows – it makes a good excuse to go back!
Navigating the menu was a little challenging – and we appreciated the advice not to order both vegetable and meat mixed boards but to stick to one, the Verdure Sott’Olio, and complement it with some prosciutto.
With a large sharing board of grilled artichokes and peppers, mozzarella balls, three different types of olives and grissini sticks, we could easily have skipped the ham. But, that would have been a shame – Luigi Devodier’s Prosciutto Crudo, aged for 36 months on pine tree ladders, was beautifully flavoured, soft, sweet and moreish.
For the main course, we were both intrigued by the concept of the monkfish Wellington for two which comes with a Champagne sauce laced with caviar (either trout or Tranmontanus black Venetian caviar from Maison Kaviari. What arrived was a delicious dish I fully intend to try and recreate at home, with monkfish tail wrapped in flaky pastry and served with a creamy, champagne and caviar-laced decadent sauce. It’s a great dish to share – satisfying but not over-filling. And, the pastry casing keeps the monkfish wonderfully tender.
We ordered some very moreish crunchy smashed potatoes to accompany the monkfish – and in some effort to be healthy, a house green salad. Both beautifully presented, I particularly loved the olive-oil laced potatoes served in a small copper pan. In fact, I could easily have just eaten them with some of that champagne and caviar sauce.
There are, of course, desserts. Given the theme of Carlotta, it would have been rude not to indulge in a portion of Carlotta’s Wedding Cake, a kind of Italian meringue cake with almond génoise. bergamot curd and lemon coulis. I hate to confess that dessert was my favourite part of this meal, especially when everything else was fabulous. But I did truly love this dessert – unexpectedly light and creamy.
We also ordered coffee and a ‘Dolci & Caffettino’ – Carlotta’s version of Cafe Gourmand. You get your coffee and a trio of mini desserts: chocolate tart, tiramisù and a mini carpaccio di bananas – all rather unexpectedly served in monkey pots!
Throughout the meal, we drank a bottle of Muller Thurgau Vigneti Delle Dolomiti IGT 2023, a light, elegant and dry white wine from Alto Adige, picked for us by our waitress. The wine list includes plenty of options by the glass – and there is a good range of Italian and French wines to choose from.
What made Carlotta’s such a good place to visit was a genuine warmth and feeling that we were all part of a family. It was fun, friendly and the food was fabulously morish. And, of course, you fall out of the restaurant and onto Marylebone High Street, one of my favourite shopping districts in London
Carlotta
77-78 Marylebone High St
London
W1U 5JX
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