Rating
Cuisine
Modern Italian
In A Word
Colourful
Appeals To
Italians and their Anglo friends. Italo-flaneur-connoiseurs and people with who like Italian food very much but have never had it served with truffles or in such a… delicate fashion
Italian wine enthusiasts, artistically sensitive foodies. Anti low carbers. Anti dieters. Hedonists will a Mediterranean theme. Come drink some Primitivo!
Temptated
Italian food is, almost by definition, temptation. Having a low carb day? How about half a kilo of taggliteli doused in truffle oil. DO IT. You’ll feel better. Doing a dry month, eh? – how about a nice strong bottle of Barolo to unwind all of that stress and neuroses? DRINK IT. It’s good for the soul.
Gastronomically speaking, The Italians (and their cuisine) – have traditionally just not given a fuck. It’s all about La Dolce Vida and your participation is not optional.
I get the chance to drop in on Tentazioni for a function they throw a few weeks back. I come fully prepared to uh…succumb to whatever came out of chef Alberto Modena‘s kitchen. Though ‘succumb’ might imply that I am actively resisting something – whereas I usually show up to these places like a hungry Doberman Pincher that has been left to starve in a cellar for a few days. DONT GET IN THE WAY OF MY FOOD.
So, my doggyness aside (is that a sentence?), we got to try their tasting menu – which is, like any tasting menu, a large number of smaller versions of their regular dishes. Verdict? Excellent. Good company, tantalisingly small portions of food – Italian red wine. The owner, Riccardo Giacomini is in attendance, but I have an autistic moment and forgot to 1. Talk 2. Make eye contact with the guy.
So, what to say? Tentazioni is somewhat out of the way, on Mill Street – about halfway between Bermondsey and London Bridge. It’s a great part of London but not somewhere you’re going to accidentally stumble into. To get there, basically keep walking East down Tooley Street until you see a left turn at Mill Street – then keep going. The area has an industrial look to it – lots of brown brick buildings that probably were used for other stuff quite some time ago.
Behind the brick facade the restaurant itself is a small and intimate space, with walls adorned with the kind of art you might expect to find in a trendy loft in New York (I do not claim to know much about art). There are also sculptures, again of the New York loft variety (I think?).
It seems that they rotate the displays, and I saw at least one meet the artist type event. They also do things you wouldn’t expect, like opera recitals (yes, really).
Not a chain, they’re one of a kind, though they have a deli of the same name, two streets away, which sells premium Italian food and drink. They’ve been here for 17 years so must be doing something right, in the brutally competitive world of London restaurants.
In line with the theme of overwhelming temptation there’s also an extensive wine selection (and they do wine tastings). I basically spent the night slamming Italian Merlot, but I saw a bunch of other things I would have rather been frontloading…
The Food
Inbetween talking about my confused life to various amiable food bloggers and taking pictures of the walls, they made me eat the following
(lol jk i ate it of my own volition, gastro-Doberman style)
Also, tiny portions are tiny.
“Rubik” Swordfish Cubes with Poppy Seeds, Aubergines Ratatouille and Red Pepper Coulis
Beef Fillet Carpaccio with White Chicory Served with Foie Gras Ice cream and Juicy Fresh Figs
Roasted King Pumpkin Ravioli with Amaretti Biscuits and Fruit Mustard Served with Butter and Sage Sauce
Fresh Eggs Tagliatelle “Tentazioni” with Black Truffle Sauce
Grilled Wild Scottish Lobster with Beef Fillet Carpaccio Millefeuille served with Garden Salad and Deep Fried Granny Smith Apple
Dried Porcini Mushrooms and Fresh Foie Gras Creamy Risotto Served with Oven Baked Bone less Quail and Mirth Sauce
Classic Tiramisú Martini Flambé
The Verdict
I am reasonably confident that everybody likes Italian food. Tentazioni have definitely stuck to the (Italian) formula, but put their own spin on it, ‘cos that’s what you have to do unless you enjoy being steamrollered by chains/other independent restaurants.
As usual, I am last to leave and win the award for derailing most conversations.
All in all, great – I’d come back for a wine tasting because good company and good Italian wine is life affirming.
The Details
http://www.tentazioni.co.uk/
0207 394 5248
2 Mill Street, London SE1 2BD