Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines
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Favourite restaurants and foodie titbits from Brussels Airlines’ short-haul network
Text Richard Bence, Kamin Mohammadi
Bocca di Lupo LONDON
12 Archer Street W1, United Kingdom, tel. , www.boccadilupo.com
This is the first solo venture from 28-year-old chef/patron Jacob Kenedy (Moro, London and Boulevard in San Francisco) with his partner and sommelier Victor Hugo, who looks after front of house. You can sit at the marble bar where Kenedy, who was described by Moro owners Sam and Samantha Clark as “a formidable presence in the kitchen”, works up his magic in front of you, or sit down in the dining room lit by a huge, circular chandelier.
To match the no-fuss food, bare tables and brick walls create a rustic, well-worn look. Standout dishes, which are available in both small and large portions, include spaghettini with lobster, mussels and ginger and bone marrow, barolo and radicchio risotto. We had the tagliata of grilled rib beef with parmesan, rocket and rosemary, which was sublime.
If you are looking for a fun, unassuming sort of place, with top-notch food, then Bocca di Lupo is a good choice – and brilliantly located for a night in London’s Theatreland, being just off Shaftesbury Avenue and a two-minute walk from Piccadilly Circus. Expect to pay around €27 for two courses without wine. RB
Il Pelagio FLORENCE
Four Seasons Hotel, 99 Borgo Pinti, Italy, tel. (055) 26261, www.fourseasons.com
The biggest recent event in Florence has to be the opening of the Four Seasons Hotel. The hotel occupies two buildings – the 15th-century Palazzo della Gherardesca and the 16th-century conventino – which have been painstakingly restored over seven years, to preserve centuries’ worth of frescoes and bas-reliefs.
Restaurant Il Pelagio is on the ground floor of the Palazzo della Gherardesca, in what was once the stable block (the original vaulted ceiling can still be seen), and spills outside onto the terrace.
Executive chef Vito Mollica is passionate about the quality of the ingredients used – all his suppliers are local – to produce dishes such as ricotta and mint ravioli in a lamb sauce, and risotto with sea asparagus and a seafood fricassée. Meanwhile, pastry chef Romain Renard creates genius desserts, such as violette bubble with vanilla cream, an otherworldly concoction of spun sugar and gold leaf. Expect to pay around €75 for four courses without wine. KM
Foodie corner The Battle of the Oranges
If Valencia’s La Tomantina has already been ticked off your to do list, you should probably make Piedmont your next stop. The carnival in Ivrea, near Turin, involves a four-day food fight (21 – 24 February), which sees teams of residents pelt each other with oranges. Held to commemorate the 1194 rebellion against Count Raineri (the oranges, according to some, represent his head), the festival’s a good one for the greedy. Beans cooked with sausages and pork fat (fagioli grassi) are distributed gratis throughout.
Afterwards, on Ash Wednesday, people gather in the squares to eat polenta, cod and carnival pastries, all washed down with sweet wine.
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