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    Clowning About: Special

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    Toto's restaurant in London underwent a two-year renovation that transformed the space from a small artist's studio to a larger, modernized restaurant with an imposing fireplace. The menu remains Italian in style under the direction of veteran chef Stefano Stecca and consultant Silvano Giraldin. Dishes like homemade pasta and a basil panna cotta dessert are highlights, with the latter persuading even those who normally dislike the dessert. While the service retains some Italian formality, a more relaxed approach will ensure the restaurant is loved by patrons as much as it is currently admired.

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    Clowning About: Special

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    Toto's restaurant in London underwent a two-year renovation that transformed the space from a small artist's studio to a larger, modernized restaurant with an imposing fireplace. The menu remains Italian in style under the direction of veteran chef Stefano Stecca and consultant Silvano Giraldin. Dishes like homemade pasta and a basil panna cotta dessert are highlights, with the latter persuading even those who normally dislike the dessert. While the service retains some Italian formality, a more relaxed approach will ensure the restaurant is loved by patrons as much as it is currently admired.

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    Toto's restaurant in London underwent a two-year renovation that transformed the space from a small artist's studio to a larger, modernized restaurant with an imposing fireplace. The menu remains Italian in style under the direction of veteran chef Stefano Stecca and consultant Silvano Giraldin. Dishes like homemade pasta and a basil panna cotta dessert are highlights, with the latter persuading even those who normally dislike the dessert. While the service retains some Italian formality, a more relaxed approach will ensure the restaurant is loved by patrons as much as it is currently admired.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    35 views1 page

    Clowning About: Special

    Uploaded by

    api-224336109
    Toto's restaurant in London underwent a two-year renovation that transformed the space from a small artist's studio to a larger, modernized restaurant with an imposing fireplace. The menu remains Italian in style under the direction of veteran chef Stefano Stecca and consultant Silvano Giraldin. Dishes like homemade pasta and a basil panna cotta dessert are highlights, with the latter persuading even those who normally dislike the dessert. While the service retains some Italian formality, a more relaxed approach will ensure the restaurant is loved by patrons as much as it is currently admired.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 1

    T

    otos might sound as though it is the sort of joint


    where clowns go to die, but it is, in fact, a solid
    block of black and gold hewn into the rough
    shape of a restaurant.
    The cruel would dub this the Saudi-aesthetic,
    a caricature of Vatican exuberance chopped up into
    immobile Bauhaus shapes but, in fact, its a huge
    improvement on the old gaff. Formerly an artists studio
    and quaint in its own way, the Chelsea local was stuck
    Not
    clowning about
    Henry Hopwood-Phillips revisits an Italian
    institution, named after the countrys most famous
    clown, to see if it has chucked the baby out with the
    bathwater after its two-year revamp
    with a sunshine yellow living room and small windows
    that never exploited the courtyard to its west.
    The new place does. And gone are the spherical
    trees that blocked the light too. Thankfully, the imposing
    16th-century Belgian replace is still there, still staring
    down at the rest of the room, an odd mixture of derision
    and despondency saturating its glare.
    The menu remains unrepentantly Italian with
    London veteran Stefano Stecca at the helm. And behind
    him, one of the biggest names of the restaurant world,
    Silvano Giraldin (of Le Gavroche among others) has
    orchestrated the whole affair as a consultant.
    Just before a tsunami of locals break across the oor,
    we gobble our root vegetables with garlic butter. These are
    well shaved; the pantry chef has earned his spurs. Bacon
    otsam does its best to wiggle its porcine bottom all over the
    viscous pea sea. And it does so very well.
    I plump for one of the specials as a main. And its
    not just special in the sense that its not on the menu. Of
    course the language that gave us al fresco, alla caprese and
    al mattone, also gave us al dente pasta, but lets be honest
    none of us gets it right. Here, a small maze of rm,
    slippery home-made starch cossets a bitter bundle of olive
    oil, capers, anchovies, lemon juice and herbs. I would
    gladly return entirely on the strength of this dish.
    Fortunately, that doesnt have to be the case. Im
    goaded by a cheeky waiter into basil panna cotta. I dont
    like this dessert at the best of times the thought of milk,
    cream and sugar simmering conjures images of a sickly
    primordial gloop but basil makes it sound even worse.
    Who on earth eats panna cotta and thinks I know what is
    missing: leaves. Madness. But letting prejudices guide you
    through menus will only conrm them.
    The pale moon sprouting vegetation before me resembles
    good, healthy yoghurt, but its lying. Its an oleaginous
    equivocator, a sweet, fatty slodge that tastes so good you will
    demand servings by the bucket, not the feeble glass pot.
    The service is, admittedly, an acquired taste. You
    get the impression the Italians have imbibed hard-learnt
    lessons in the 60s that proper restaurants were French
    and codied to within an inch of their lives. But Im also
    sure that a more relaxed approach will ensure Totos is
    loved as much as it is currently admired.
    Walton House, off Walton Street, SW3 2JH
    020 7589 2062 (totosrestaurant.com)
    It might sound as though it is the
    sort of joint where clowns go to die
    BELGRAVIA
    DINING
    S
    pecial

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