Restaurants, in the current climate, should do all that they can to ensure that the customer does not leave unhappy, yet today, at Moreno at Baglioni Restaurant, that's exactly how we left. And yes, they knew, because when our waiter asked how the food was - the answer being not so good - we told him exactly that. Too often though, waiters don't know how to handle the honest appraisal when all is not well - ours suggested we fill out a comments card, but having given him our verbal feedback already, that seemed somewhat repetitious. For what promises to be, and is priced at, cutting edge Italian food, the whole meal was a disappointment.
The Moreno in the name is Chef Moreno Cedroni, an Italian chef whose flagship restaurant La Madonnina del Pescatore in Senigalla holds two Michelin stars, but while his name is above the door of the restaurant, here at the Baglioni Hotel on Hyde Park Gate, he is, we understand, a consultant rather than a principal.
The restaurant is plush, furnishings soft, but situated on the ground floor of the hotel, without partitions, the space seamlessly merges the restaurant, bar and then lobby of the hotel leaving you unsure where any one begins or ends.
The Moreno in the name is Chef Moreno Cedroni, an Italian chef whose flagship restaurant La Madonnina del Pescatore in Senigalla holds two Michelin stars, but while his name is above the door of the restaurant, here at the Baglioni Hotel on Hyde Park Gate, he is, we understand, a consultant rather than a principal.
The restaurant is plush, furnishings soft, but situated on the ground floor of the hotel, without partitions, the space seamlessly merges the restaurant, bar and then lobby of the hotel leaving you unsure where any one begins or ends.
The menu is divided into starters, pasta, fish and meat leaving us unsure of how many courses were appropriate to order; our waiter steering us only approximately. With three round the table however and a natural curiosity, we got to see much that was on offer. The other peculiarity about the menu is that alongside the name of each dish is a number, such as .98, which we are told is the year in which the dish was first created. This is a chef then that doesn't cook, he creates, but innovation is mostly in odd pairings such as veal with raspberry and ginger sauce (.12).
For the sushi & susci starter (.98), the menu promises 8 small recipes from the cook book sushi & susci written by moreno cedroni, which seems to us slightly odd, to name check himself on the menu of his own restaurant. The starters were probably the most successful courses in a weak field. The tempura scallops infused with cuttlefish ink (.97) had the potential to be tremendous, and in the odd bite they were, though most of the time they we laid low by soggy tempura. The sushi was good in parts too while the veal and raspberry pairing proved a combination too far.
For the sushi & susci starter (.98), the menu promises 8 small recipes from the cook book sushi & susci written by moreno cedroni, which seems to us slightly odd, to name check himself on the menu of his own restaurant. The starters were probably the most successful courses in a weak field. The tempura scallops infused with cuttlefish ink (.97) had the potential to be tremendous, and in the odd bite they were, though most of the time they we laid low by soggy tempura. The sushi was good in parts too while the veal and raspberry pairing proved a combination too far.
Pasta dishes were a huge disappointment, more so because one feels this is what a lauded Italian should do best. All of us are instantly drawn to the tortellini filled with 24 month aged liquid Parmesan. We remember the similar carbonara fagotteli at Apsleys, Heinz Beck's starred Italian at The Lanesborough, a pasta dish for the gods if ever there was one. Sadly here, the liquid Parmesan is mostly a dribble, the pasta dominant but not luxuriant, with only one of the ten parcels really exploding with flavour.
The fusilli is hard going for little reward and the seafood lasagne with coconut and parsley sauce fails to excite, the coconut seeming to us again an addition that does in fact subtract.
The fusilli is hard going for little reward and the seafood lasagne with coconut and parsley sauce fails to excite, the coconut seeming to us again an addition that does in fact subtract.
Main courses looked drab and tasted drab. The "rossini" fillet of beef was woefully under seasoned though had little intrinsic flavour to give anyhow; the foie gras at least was nice. Bacon wrapped monkfish bites were tough as old boots and the slow cooked veal cheek was simply unpleasant, the majority of which was returned to the kitchen. There was simply no depth to any of these plates, with the quality of ingredients seemingly poor and the cooking often letting it down further.
The tasting plate of desserts, "christopher columbus" offered little style or complexity and felt like a supermarket selection. Finally, a map of Italy is placed in front of you and three small chocolates are removed with tweezers from a bowl on to the map in an essentially pointless exercise.
Our waiter again checked in with how we had enjoyed it overall, but after we expressed our reservations with the meal, our waiter suggested that this was not traditional Italian but 'avant garde' which might explain why we struggled to enjoy it. We have no problem with avant garde, but this meal was in our opinion simply poor, that's why we struggled to enjoy it. Too often, the basic cooking was lacking we felt, and never did it have real depth. Adding to the mix non traditional ingredient pairings was never going to make up for this shortfall, rather, it just makes for a bigger car crash.
The meal, as you'd expect in a Kensington hotel/restaurant by a starred chef (consultant), is not cheap, but at half the price it still would have been a disappointment. In the mothership restaurant in Italy, there might be genius on the plate, but it has failed to travel well and in London, you'll find better elsewhere, from Apsleys to Zucca.
The meal, as you'd expect in a Kensington hotel/restaurant by a starred chef (consultant), is not cheap, but at half the price it still would have been a disappointment. In the mothership restaurant in Italy, there might be genius on the plate, but it has failed to travel well and in London, you'll find better elsewhere, from Apsleys to Zucca.