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Assaggi

Address:	39 Chepstow Place W2 4TS
Tel	020 7792 9033
Price: £60.00	Wine: £21.95	Champagne: £45.00
Opening Hours:	Mon-Fri 12.30-2.30pm(Sat -1pm) 7.30-11pm

Square Meal review of Assaggi:

Plan well ahead to eat at Assaggi: this dining room above The Chepstow pub has only 11 tables & no shortage of diners eager to eat at them. The reason? Well, it’s not for the surroundings, which though perfectly pleasant – wooden chairs, undressed tables, bright walls hung with abstract art – have more in common with a gastropub than the capital’s other Michelin-starred restaurants. Instead, Assaggi is all about ‘simply prepared food that tastes incredible’. The charming staff are on hand to translate dishes from a menu written in Italian which might yield fresh crab lightly drizzled with lemon juice & olive oil, fillet of pork with black truffles, & Assaggi’s classic flourless chocolate tart for dessert. Not everyone is so impressed: ‘way over-rated’ say those who expect dishes that cost this much (around £20 for a main) to come with more adornment, but fans of Italian cooking that stresses prime ingredients that taste exactly as they should reckon Assaggi is ‘still the best’.

Wine List: The all-Italian list is surprisingly compact (35 bins), considering the quality of food on offer here. The mixture of classic Italy & lesser-known regions is well selected, however there are downsides: prices start at a hefty £21.95 for house wine & the way the list is written means you need to know your stuff to have any idea which region of Italy the wines come from. Best Buy White 2006 Soave Monte Fiorentine, Ca’Rugate, Veneto, Italy, £29.95. Best Buy Red 2005 Le Volte Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, Bolgheri, Italy, £33.50.