I think Angela Harnett is one of the most exciting and likeable chefs around and being half-Italian on her mother’s side – her maternal grandparents came from Emilia-Romagna – the Italian influence of her cooking has obvious appeal to this Italophile. Harnett trained with Gordon Ramsay and has worked at top restaurants like Aubergine and Petrus; she became chef-patron of London’s Connaught Hotel’s restaurant, MENU, and was awarded a Michelin star in 2004. Murano was opened in 2008 and won a Michelin star the following year; Cafe Murano, a more relaxed and informal affair, opened last year, in St James’s Street, just off Piccadilly. I’ve been wanting to go there since I heard about its opening and suggested to Annie that we give it a try and despite heavy rain and a Tube strike today, we were determined to make it to our booking. And we did!
Here’s the thing. Cafe Murano isn’t actually a cafe. It’s a rather sophisticated restaurant from Angela Hartnett, former chef-patron of The Connaught. The “cafe” element comes from the fact that it’s a more laid-back version of Murano, a fine-dining restaurant in Mayfair. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a second class spin-off. The quality of the food and service, as well as the sleek interior, ensures that you are in for a treat when you dine here.
London has never been and most likely will never be the kind of place where you can simply walk into the nearest restaurant and expect to be served an enjoyable and fairly-priced meal. Handled correctly, this city can be a foodie paradise, but it's always going to be lots of other things as well - a tourist hotspot, a center of commerce and finance, home to nine million people of all different preferences and persuasions - and not everyone has the same priorities (or standards) when it comes to eating out. For everywhere selling great food for a reasonable price there are a dozen Frankie & Bennys, Cafe Rouges and Garfunkels waiting to chew up and spit out anyone foolish enough not to have done their restaurant homework. It is easy to eat well in London, but it's not always obvious.
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes