Diciannove – Menus Of Italy
I’ve been watching the redevelopment of Blackfriars station over the last few years as it has turned into a major transport hub. Fortuitously the reopened station is just across the road from Diciannove restaurant which sits on the ground floor of the Crowne Plaza hotel.
The restaurant has a wine bar with a Chichetti menu but I have been invited to review the food offer in the long, elegant main body of the room. I’m interested in this place because head chef Alessandro Bay trained under Giorgio Locatelli for ten years and in a previous incarnation the space was Locatelli’s own restaurant Refettorio.
We started with a ‘small’ sharing platter rather touchingly called Il Supremo (£18). It was a collation of hot crisp freshly battered calamari and finely sliced zucchini, a fine selection of meats- prosciutto Toscano, fennel salami, mortadella di Bologna- with a few chunks of excellent Parmigiano-Reggiano and mozzarella di bufala and some piquant pickled artichoke. It would have done really well as a light supper on its own.
Spaghettini all astice (£18.50) came with fresh lobster, pigato thyme and fresh tomato. The dish was understated and elegant with the requisite bite from the fresh pasta and the lobster flavour not overpowered by the sauce.
Filleto di manzo (£32) was a tender and perfectly cooked beef fillet, that came with potatoes tortino (a potato lasagna with bacon), sautéed leeks and an astonishingly good veal sauce that was the star of the show. 
I went for the Coda di Rospo (£27.50). Monkfish tail is notoriously tricky to cook as it can easily turn to rubber. This was perfect, still shining, tender and set off by a sweet pepper, tomato and escarole sauce.
Desserts came in the form of a delicious bowl of Amarena sour cherries with ricotta and pistachio (£7.50) and a classic Affogato (vanilla ice-cream with a shot of espresso). (£5.50).
Desserts came in the form of a delicious bowl of Amarena sour cherries with ricotta and pistachio (£7.50) and a classic Affogato (vanilla ice-cream with a shot of espresso). (£5.50).I was really impressed by the way the Head Chef Alessandro Bay handled flavours which were often unexpected but always interesting and well balanced. He is launching Menus Of Italy; a series of evenings celebrating the campanilismo (pride) of regional Italian cooking which will be well worth investigating. The regional menus will be offered alongside the existing a la carte menu throughout the entire evening priced at £35 per person for three courses including a glass of Prosecco.
Upcoming events:
Sicily (Monday 25th April) includes insalata di polipo alla Siciliana (Sicilian-style octopus salad), pasta con le sarde (fresh pasta with fresh sardines, fennel seeds, raisins and pine nuts) and involtino di vitello con provola Siciliana (roulade of veal filled with Sicilian provola).
Venice – Tuesday 24th May
Puglia – Tuesday 21st June
(menus still in planning)
It would be well worth trying them out as his cooking combines a technical assurance with a great understanding of flavour.
Diciannove Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar
19 New Bridge Street
EC4V 6DB
020 7438 8052
19 New Bridge Street
EC4V 6DB
020 7438 8052
The meal looks just as elegant as the space in which they house this lovely place. The dishes all seem special takes on classic recipes. I am going to try the cherry ricotta pistachio combo at home since I recently decided to make ricotta. This will be a worthy dish for my first attempt. You go to all the best places, Fiona, and bring me all the best ideas.