It's white truffle season and Zafferano is using the fact to brilliant effect with an extended seasonal menu that provided us with much delight at our recent lunch there. Zafferano, as most will know, boasts a Michelin star and carries therefore certain expectations with that. We found the place to be delightful with a relaxed informal atmosphere, comfortable surrounds and friendly staff. We would certainly return.
Our waiter for the meal was William but despite this being a solid Germanic-Norman name, he was appropriately and authentically Italian and with good suggestions about ways to set up our meal and what to eat; he made us feel relaxed, welcome and happy.
With some hours to pass, we were happy to go anti, primi and secondi, but how and where to place the truffle dishes? What's more, William's recommendation of the veal chop for two also sounded tempting. With three around the table though on this occassion, we could accommodate a greater range of dishes than normal allowing us to see more of what the kitchen could offer.
To start then, we ordered the Cured pork with "radicchio trevisano" and aged balsamic vinegar, a carpaccio with truffle, and scrambled egg with truffle. At the outset we should say that all the dishes that came with truffle (of which there would be three) were superb and the truffle was aromatic, flavourful and came in generous quantities.
The carpaccio was probably the star of the show here with a beautifully cooked egg on top that when cut in to provided a lava flow of yellow ooze down the side of the beef onto the valley of truffle below. It was beautiful to behold and is pictured below for you to savour at your leisure. This was a beautiful looking and beautiful tasting dish. The egg is truly memorable and the dish had its own wow factor.
The scambled eggs were perfectly cooked and greatly enjoyed. The pork and balsamic was also a nice start but a little less wow for obvious reasons.
Our waiter for the meal was William but despite this being a solid Germanic-Norman name, he was appropriately and authentically Italian and with good suggestions about ways to set up our meal and what to eat; he made us feel relaxed, welcome and happy.
With some hours to pass, we were happy to go anti, primi and secondi, but how and where to place the truffle dishes? What's more, William's recommendation of the veal chop for two also sounded tempting. With three around the table though on this occassion, we could accommodate a greater range of dishes than normal allowing us to see more of what the kitchen could offer.
To start then, we ordered the Cured pork with "radicchio trevisano" and aged balsamic vinegar, a carpaccio with truffle, and scrambled egg with truffle. At the outset we should say that all the dishes that came with truffle (of which there would be three) were superb and the truffle was aromatic, flavourful and came in generous quantities.
The carpaccio was probably the star of the show here with a beautifully cooked egg on top that when cut in to provided a lava flow of yellow ooze down the side of the beef onto the valley of truffle below. It was beautiful to behold and is pictured below for you to savour at your leisure. This was a beautiful looking and beautiful tasting dish. The egg is truly memorable and the dish had its own wow factor.
The scambled eggs were perfectly cooked and greatly enjoyed. The pork and balsamic was also a nice start but a little less wow for obvious reasons.
The egg on the carpaccio was simply heaven
lovely scrambled eggs
For our primi course, we ordered a pheasant ravioli, tagliolini truffle and lobster linguine. All dishes were very much enjoyed. The tagliolini was everything it should have been and therefore everything that you hoped it would be with the tagliolini almost lost under a patch quilt of truffle shavings. The pheasant ravioli was perfectly balanced with soft tasty pasta and perfectly cooked pheasant. Good quantities too were served up on all plates with a real feeling of a proper Italian meal.
tagliolini truffle
For the mains, it was the veal chop (for two), and the lobster, langoustine and scallop fricassee. The real disappointment came with the veal that was underseasoned resulting in an absence of flavour while the meat had also not been properly seared rendering the dish underwhelming. The rim of fat too, while if crisped properly can provide real flavour, here was just fat. The chickpeas also were hard and unappealing. We discussed these concerns with the restaurant manager who was understanding and who remedied the situation appropriately. While disappointing, we're so pleased with our meal up to now that we hardly hold this against them and it wouldn't impact our decision to return.
The lobster fricassee was good with the highlight being the langoustine tail which was perfectly cooked, great texture, lovely flavour and was somewhat better than the lobster which had a minor note of chewiness to it though no more than all but the finest cooked of them. I enjoyed the dish.
The lobster fricassee was good with the highlight being the langoustine tail which was perfectly cooked, great texture, lovely flavour and was somewhat better than the lobster which had a minor note of chewiness to it though no more than all but the finest cooked of them. I enjoyed the dish.
Veal chop
take me to your leader...
For dessert, we finished up by ordering two chocolate fondants which seemed too good to pass up and hazlenut cream with vanilla and 'espresso' coffee. The fondants were perfectly cooked and like the egg before, just oozed its liquid centre on being cut open. It came with Gianduia ice cream which is sweet chocolate containing 30% hazlenut paste. A super way to finish the meal. The hazlenut cream meanwhile was beautifully presented and had a cornflake-esque topping to provide a nice contrasting crunch to the ice cream. The espresso was then poured on top.
Hazlenut cream with vanilla and 'espresso' coffee
Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the meal. We enjoyed the food, the environment and the friendly service. We were relaxed and happy and have to say, enjoyed our meal here more than we did the meal at Marcus Wareing at the Berkely just 24 hours earlier. With the truffle options, we managed to add more to our bill than had we stayed on the regular menu but given their Michelin star, the price point is about right overall for what they deliver and we will certainly return when we are in the area next wanting a high quality Italian in a relaxed and convivial atmosphere.
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