A la Colthard / Il Vicolo
On the train to London yesterday I read an article in The Times about ‘In’ restaurants that blacklist you.
As I have une horreur of fashionable restaurants, I had not known – let alone visited – the two mentioned: Dorian in Notting Hill Gate and Dover in Mayfair. (That Gary Lineker patronises Dorian was enough to put me off).
The problems for Daffers are (1) the underlying assumption that it’s you, as the diner, that are doing such restaurants a favour; and (2) that they are invariably expensive.
Fashion by its very definition is both transient and ephemeral. I can remember when the Fire Engine House in Chiltern Street was the place to be but now you can get a booking without any problem.
Many years ago an old friend, whose birthday is one month before mine, and I agreed to celebrate these two events at a mid-point between the two.
This lady is not giving away her age, except to say ‘I don’t look it!’
We decided to meet at the Stafford Hotel for drinks and I had booked il Vicolo at nearby Crown Passage off Pall Mall.
Il Vicolo is a family run trattoria specialising in Calabrian cuisine.
The father who launched it had passed, so his daughters took on the job of running it and are doing very well grazie.
They are all sweet, helpful, smiling girls and provide an excellent service. We ordered a pasta the homemade fileja and calves liver, washed down by a superb rich red Ciro Rosso. My friend is a wine connoisseur and approved the wine. With a dessert, the bill came to £90 per person, but we still topped it up with a £20 tip!
Lunch is an excellent meal and we both agreed we would not be eating later.
