REVIEW: Cucina Asellina, Me London Hotel, The Strand

You’ve probably heard me ranting over the past few months now about my disappointment in Italian restaurants and my quest to find the best London has to offer. I’ve certainly sampled some very good restaurants in that time, but also some atrocious ones. The one place I never expected to come across a very fine Italian restaurant, was at the ME London Hotel just off Aldwych. I’d been to this hotel many time before, but for some unknown reason always overlooked the restaurant and found myself instead at its glamorous rooftop bar, Radio – the perfect escape for a few cocktails and stunning views over London.

Booking tables at restaurants has always been a bit of a process of elimination for me too, but sites such as Quandoo (I’m a sucker for their amazing loyalty rewards) and Bookatable have always suited me just perfectly and cover just about every restaurant in London. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of the hotel and walking through this restaurants doors is like stepping into a calm and luxurious tranquil haven. Lots of marble, sleek leather furniture and natural light flooding in off the streets. The food is Italian tapas style (I hate sharing) but here the portion sizes are so perfect you don’t really have too. A cheeky Aperol spritz (of course) and some bread was brought over to the table – a sip later and a bit of that juicy foccacia – we knew we we’re in safe hands.

Surprisingly the menu here at Cucina Asellina is very affordable. Per head you can comfortably eat and leave full for around £25/30. We started with a refreshing and vibrant buratta salad with mixed grilled vegetables, olive tapanenade and balsamic glaze. The buratta stole the show and was every bit as sour, creamy and juicy you could hope for. A small but perfectly formed pizza was great for sharing and cooked to absolute perfection. Top with prosciutto ham, lashings of fragrant black truffle and pungent peppery rocket. As far as pizzas go this was spot on. The only problem is – you won’t want to share it.

I’ve a bit of an obsession at the moment, with two things in particular – tuna and anything lightly fried. Two dishes on the menu were screaming out at me – so of course I ordered them both. A solid offering from the frittura mista arrived with a small but meaty soft shell crab, tender quid, single prawn and whitebait – the garlic aioli dipping sauce was rather good too. The star dish, or perhaps of the whole meal was our grilled tuna, shellfish and fregola ragu. Everything in this dish was cooked incredibly well. From the perfectly seared slices of tuna, right through to the flavoursome clams, meaty mussels and a seafood broth which you’ll want to save your bread for.

When it comes to my meat, I’ll confess I’m a bit of a snob. And when it comes to choosing, I’m always partial to a good piece of lamb (or rack of them if it’s on the menu). So when the honey glazed rack of lamb, coated in a thick parsley crumb and a side of rosemary potatoes was on the menu, how could I say no? My only annoyance over this dish was that these lamb chops were served as one whole piece of the two chops – trying to split it for sharing was a very messy affair. Apart from that its flavour and cooking were absolutely perfect – heavenly in fact. The meat was incredibly juicy, the parsley crumb brought lots of flavour and freshness – even the rosemary potatoes were well cooked and properly seasoned. A trip to Cucina Asellina would be worth it for these chops alone, that and a side of the crispy polenta chips.

The only downside to Cucina Asellina (if there really was one) were that we wanted to eat just about everything on the menu and it’s very, very easy to get carried away. Semolina gnocchi, mushroom, fennel infused sausage, pecorino and a refined and generous amount of saffron created a dish to savour. The gnocchi wasn’t like we’d expected and was more similar to pasta shells but thankfully that didn’t make this dish any less enjoyable. It could have been a little hotter but that saffron alongside those fragrant chunks of sausage meat made for a dish which I can still recall while writing this. Yet another dish to add to your list – along with the rest of the menu.

Things were going very well with our meal here, but perhaps all too well because our dessert of luke-warm apple tart with cinnamon gelato failed to excite and its stodgy cake mixture slightly undercooked and too wet. A real shame because the rest of the food here at Cucina Asellina was absolutely sublime. Would I come back? Of course I would. It’s only just a matter of how long can I survive without the food created by these talented chefs. Cucina Asellina may have had some bad press in the past and a slightly confused menu but now with its fresh approach and new seasonal menu the restaurant seems to have finally found it feet and a reason for everyone to make their way down to this sumptuous, laid back Italian restaurant.

8/10