Jump to content

  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Sardo

Kikujiro
 Share

Recommended Posts

Kikujiro

Kikujiro

Posted
Posted

Sardo is one of those restaurants I've been meaning to go to for a couple of years and been fairly certain I'd like. So when we were kicking around this evening after seeing the Steve McQueen Artangel installation at the Lumiere (which used to be my favourite cinema and is still amazing inside; Schrager should preferably reopen it, or failing that turn it into the coolest bar in London), freshly-purchased Time Out 2003 Guide in hand, looking for somewhere to celebrate the end of my carb-free week (I don't recommend it; it increased my susceptibility to alcohol to alarmingly lightweight levels), I noticed yet again Sardo had a red star and thought this would be a good moment. A quick phone call established they could accomodate us and up Tottenham Court Road we trotted.

Things started very well. A pleasant, modest room (an odd thing going on on the walls with framed real flowers in test tube vases, like 3D Mapplethorpes), reasonably busy with several tables speaking Italian, friendly staff, nice olives and a big basket of incredibly moreish rosemary-oil carta di musica to start the carb intake. From the decent selection of Sardinian wines we were recommended a Cannonau at a perfectly reasonable £19.

Come antipasto, I ordered the moscardini (baby octopus) from the blackboard. They were very good -- very soft indeed and with a strong flavour that the tomatoey sauce brought out rather than tried to disguise. Probably better than the baby octopus I had a week or so ago at Pizza Metro (which, as Peter will know, is a Good Sign). Friend went for carpaccio, which looked pretty decent from where I was sitting. I was already thinking about a nice brief eGullet commendation.

Then the pasta courses arrived and the meal drove off a cliff. This was the last thing I was expecting; if the dam' octopus were good you can usually expect that everyone's favourite course will come through. The friend's ravioli zafferano (ricotta and aubergine; no mention of saffron in the English) had a pretty good filling, but were absolutely swamped in tomato sauce that killed the flavour and exaggerated the slight over-softness of the pasta. (Accompanying parmesan was grated by an interesting but noisy electrical device.) And my spaghetti alla bottarga was almost unpleasantly heavy, with a deadly monotonous taste that seemed an abstraction of what some people don't like about bottarga (I love it, as a rule). It went down like concrete and I probably wouldn't have finished it if I wasn't determined to mainline on carbs.

After this I felt way too leaden to contemplate the mains. Some of them sounded very attractive (spigola al sale, cervo al cannonau), but then so had the pasta courses. However, I was unwilling to finish on that note so went for the pannacotta with raspberries (more accurately 'with two raspberries'). It was perfectly okay, bordering on good without being exciting. Little black specks of vanilla turned out to be sprinkled on for show rather than part of the cream itself. Coffee was good.

Three courses with water, wine, one coffee and service, £80. Mains would have pushed this upwards by around £20 a head. My hopes of adding to my list of favourite London restaurants were unfulfilled.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kikujiro

Kikujiro

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
How do they sprinkle vanilla seeds? Is that possible? :wacko: Sure it was vanilla seeds?

Basildog,

Ah, um, you got me. I had in mind the little black flecks I expect to see in a good vanilla icecream, or creme brulee, or pannacotta. I thought these were indeed vanilla. And was pretty sure it was these, vanilla or not, that were sprinkled on. Certainly wasn't cocoa powder :smile: But I may be wrong; anyone have a better idea? :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kikujiro

Kikujiro

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

Nothing quite as dull as constantly replying to your own post, but I note that Matthew Fort had both the moscardini (a regular special?) and the spaghetti alla bottarga, and came to much the same conclusions on each.

(Ciabatta still featured with the carta di musica (ignored it except to mop up the moscardini sauce) but salt and pepper grinders are now available on the table.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
peterpumkino

peterpumkino

Posted
Posted
Probably better than the baby octopus I had a week or so ago at Pizza Metro (which, as Peter will know, is a Good Sign).

I'm impressed, you DO read everything don't you? And not only that but you know what you are talking about. What you described as bad about Sardo's is exactly what I go on and on about in Non-Italy Italian restaurants: the balance. The heavy sauce and far too much of it and the pasta that is over-cooked is a good example!

So, now I know you have it tell me, what IS your list of favourite Italian restaurants in the UK? Somebody who 'gets' Metro Pizza is a friend of mine!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Thomas Secor

Thomas Secor

Posted
Posted

Sardos was one of my favorite restaurants for a period of time, and I must have recommended both it and the Perseverance to dozens of people for reasonably priced meals in the Bloomsbury/Fitzrovia area. However, much like the Perseverance, my enthusiasm with respect to Sardos has waned and I dont expect to go back.

Interestingly enough, I dont think the quality of the food has changed. I would say that I always had one donkey of a meal for every three good ones that I had. And I stress the word "good", the meals were never great. What Sardos offered was something I think London, at least central London, sorely lacks, and that is reasonably priced, good, neighborhood restaurants. When Sardos was 60 pounds for two people, including starters, mains and a bottle of wine, I thought it fit the bill. They have recently raised prices so that the last time I went, the same meal had risen by 20-30 pounds. At 45 pounds a head, I expect a very different meal, different service levels and a different ambience. For my wallet, at 45 pounds, 3 out of 4 is not good enough, you have to be spot on every time, and you have to be better than a good neighborhood place.

Now I go to Paolo, which although neither the interior, nor the "vibe", are as enjoyable as Sardos, has equally good food, some decent wines, and is still less than 20 pounds for three courses (17.50 to be exact). Hopefully a new place will open by the time the sucess of Paolo's goes to someone's head and they think they can start charging 12 pounds for perfectly good, but ordinary, linguine con vongole.

Thomas Secor

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kikujiro

Kikujiro

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
And not only that but you know what you are talking about.

Don't sound so surprised :angry: ... Not sure I about a list, but I've certainly agreed with you on Pizza Metro in the past (and therefore I deduce you don't read everything :raz:)

Thomas, I certainly had better food in Paolo, and will return there sooner than I will to Sardo, despite agreeing with you on the room (bread was unimpressive too). An odd thing on the Paolo front -- its menu seems to be replicating across London. I walked past the Purple Sage recently (never eaten there) and it had a similar pricing structure and a lot of crossover in the dishes themselves.

Someone recommended Timo to me today. Time Out 2003 thinks it's a 'sophisticated local'. Mind you, it adores Sardo. Anyone been?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
circeplum

circeplum

Posted
Posted
Someone recommended Timo to me today. Time Out 2003 thinks it's a 'sophisticated local'. Mind you, it adores Sardo. Anyone been?

i went to timo when it first opened and the critics were raving about it. it was probably the most boring restaurant experience i've had in recent months: boring, beige decor, boring punters and boring food. my chicken dish - a sort of griddled breast with some roasted veg - was the kind of thing i serve to my poor children when i've got bugger all in the fridge. it tasted like old loofah.

i do remember a brilliant dish of oxtail and thyme ravioli, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tonyfinch

Tonyfinch

Posted
Posted

Sardo was packed last night (Wed) and there was a very buzzy atmosphere. Service was pleasant but a little stretched. After the meal we chatted for ages over coffee and brandies and we were at no time pressurised to leave.I was catching up with an old friend so we weren't particularly focused down on the food. I had a pleasant Buffalo Mozarella and Chutney starter but my friend was disappointed that his porcini dish was cold and a little greasy

I don't know how Sardinian roast Venison with dauphinoise style potatoes is but it was really nice-tender flavoursome slices of meat cooked rare as requested. My friends veal chop with herbs was a little bland and dry.

No desserts,two bottles of wine from Venegazzu,two coffees,two large brandies-£103. Can't remember whether that included service or not(or whether we left a tip)

I enjoyed it and would go back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 5 months later...
Charlene Leonard

Charlene Leonard

Posted
Posted

went last night, very underwhelmed by the food. I had the mussel soup from the specials board, rather too salty but probably not helped by the fact that I thought the salt mill was pepper. Very measly portion of marinated veg and a salty fish carpaccio. Spaghetti alla bottarga had way to much oilve oil for my liking and as Kiku noted the ravioli was drowned in tomato sauce. Also bloody expensive for what is was - £7.90 for a bowl of soup? I will not be returning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...