Amaranto is an Italian restaurant which utilises lots of British ingredients, but splits its menu down the middle balancing out classic regional Italian dishes against British inspired ones. Up until recently(ish) the kitchen was run by Davide Degiovanni who has since gone on to work for Gordon Ramsay’s Union Street Cafe in Borough. Who’s running the kitchen here now at Amaranto is a mystery to me. Out from the bar arrived my smokey negroni – which was outstanding and completely unexpected. The incredibly well blended negroni was accompanied by a flask of smoky lapsang souchong tea which wafted across and into the glass infusing it. After finishing the strong, bitter and seductive drink you’re encourage to strain and pour the remaining tea into the glass and mix with any remaining drops and sip – slowly. A lovely idea. I’ll be coming back for many more of these soon.
The decor inside Amaranto comes across slightly oriental in design, which looked nice but isn’t really reflective against the food. In the corner of the dining room i spotted a large trolley with an abundance of bread. Then suddenly a huge selection arrived at our table. All lovely, well made and great for dipping into the salt and olive oil accompaniments. I’m a stickler for breads and these weren’t bad at all. Although perhaps i over indulged a little early and filled myself up somewhat even before starters arrived.
Stracciatella, which is an egg drop soup had the unusual mix of a gazpacho style tomato soup, olives and basil leaves. In all honestly I’d not eaten stracciatella before and had no idea what to expect but wow, what had i been missing. Incredibly fresh, punchy flavours, smoothly textured and a portion size to match, which left just enough spoonfuls of this gorgeous stracciatella to help satisfy our moreish cravings for it we developed. If you’ve yet to experience stracciatella then i urge you to seek it out, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
What is it these days with restaurants putting fried duck eggs on their menus. Three years or so ago i only ever saw them in top restaurants, now nearly everyone has it on their menus. And I’m not complaining. Here the dish was a nice attempt, but on the whole needed a little reworking. The egg was well cooked, but its crumb too plain and tasteless. Parmesan fondue on the side had good flavour but the consistency wasn’t quite right and a little lumpy. Grilled asparagus on the other hand was lovely. As i said, everything needed a little more execution and care.
Duck breast with crushed potatoes, courgette flowers, fried courgettes, puree and jus arrived next. The duck was nicely cooked, and the highlight of the dish (as it should be). The courgette flower was covered in some hideous batter, but was stuffed with an unbelievably tasty orange cream. The jus was nice and the puree was good, but needed to be smoother. There was definitely some effort and serious thinking behind this dish, but again the execution and care felt as if it was missing in places.
Our best dish of the evening was without a doubt, the pasta course. Parsley scented tonnarelli pasta with chunks of cod, black olive and a caper ragout. The actual pasta needed thirty seconds more in the pan but otherwise this could have been near perfect. The sauce had so much depth and flavour while little chunks of cod sporadically appeared in the mouth and those salty capers and black olives left for a tantalising affair. Just getting that pasta right every time is key – some people can be nothing near as forgiving as i can (believe it or not).
I’ve never quite been a fan of panna cotta and I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe It’s the lack of flavour I’ve experienced or watery textures – either way I’m just crazy about it. Here i actually did enjoy it, but wasn’t captivated or blown away which still remains a problem for me ever falling in love with this ever popular dessert. Served with roasted peaches, peach juice and a peach sorbet it became quickly apparent that something on this plate was going to be much easier to put away than others. Peach may be perhaps one of my favourite fruits and Amaranto managed to keep that love affair ongoing.
Petit fours were a mixture of sugar jellies, deliciously dark truffles and some mini meringues – which were full of sugar and had no flavour. A minor thing which could easily be rectified. Hotel dining is still my favourite ways to dine and that won’t be changing anytime soon. Amaranto may have lost its well known stellar CV holding chef but right now it still has a very capable one instead. Yes the food needs a little more work and care but its heading in the right direction, and so much so i can’t think of a single reason not to return when in the area. The cocktails are a reason to go back alone, that smoky negroni can never be forgotten.
7/10
Wow! That all looks incredibly beautiful. One thing I cannot abide though is a sugary meringue. Probably because I’ve been spoiled with amazing meringues all my life – my mother has some kind of freak talent for making perfect meringues every time. It was years before I realised bad ones even existed.