After the dissapointment of their first launch in to the restaurant game last year, Enoteca Rabezzana kinda fell under the radar for a short while. Bouncing back in November, they’ve relaunched with a few tweaks that made a big difference.
Italian cuisine should be classic, no frills, just good, simple food. At Enoteca, all pasta is served al dente, all wine is paired accurately and all tapas is of equal sharing size, meaning less dispute between me and my other half! The interiors mirror the classic approach; dimly lit, wine bottles align the back wall adjacent to a small open front kitchen surrounding a highly instagrammable floor (check our insta to see for yourself!).
We left it to our waiter to decide our fate for the evening and suffice to say he came up trumps, with an ‘Aperol Spritz‘ we settled in to the relaxed surroundings. Tapas to start, ‘Uovo in Camicia al Tartufo’ a beautifully poached egg upon a bed of toast with saffron fondue and sprinklings of black truffle paired with a fruity, full bodied wine, the ‘2011 Manzoni Bianco, Maso Furli’. Next, ‘Salamella Toscana’ that can only be described as a rich-Italian-man’s sausage and mash, the meat succulent and zingy whilst the potato puree offered a mild compliment to the dish, paired with a prominent and mineral ‘2014 Sylvaner, Valle Isarco’.
Again, on recommendation our mains were of impeccable taste. The ‘Risotto alla Milanese’ cooked in a veal broth created all sorts of wonders in the stomach as did the ‘Linguine Cacio e Pepe‘ an Italian classic I’ve been meaning to cook myself for some time. Interestingly, the creamy dishes were paired with a delightful red wine, the ‘2014 Cannonou, Primo Scuro Mesa’ from the region of Sardinia, this wine is spicy and fruity in taste coming from a particularly volcanic part of the country.
If I learned anything from the evening – aside from the urge to cook more Italian at home and an increased knowledge of the grape – its that classic is cool. To hit the latest restaurant with a queue that stretches a mile JUST because they serve everything avocado or hang tin cans from the ceiling isn’t always necessary. Sometimes saying nothing at all can say it all.
http://rabezzana.co.uk/
62-63 Long Ln, London EC1A 9EJ
