Set on Eccleston Street in Belgravia, Olivo is the first restaurant from Mauro Sanna, celebrating Sardinian classics with a hyper-regional menu drawing on classic techniques, quality ingredients, and decades of experience. Since it opened in 1990, Sanna has gone on to establish something of an empire in London, with other restaurants including pasta and pizza restaurant Oliveto, fine seafood dining at Olivomare, and Olivino - a delicatessen and wine shop showcasing the finest Italian producers.
Here at Olivo, you’ll find a restaurant dining room with classy, polished appeal. Think tables draped in white linens, sleek black seating, flowers at every table, and a striking statement wall. All combined, it’s an atmosphere suited to more refined occasions, from impressing on date night to gathering the family to mark something more special. It’s also favoured for client entertaining and more corporate-focused dining occasions.
The Olivo menu, naturally, kicks off with aperitifs, including Vernaccia di Orestano, a dry Sardinian aperitif similar to sherry. Antipasti follow, reeling off options such as Sardinian bottarga with pickled white anchovies, Sardinian prosciutto with chargrilled asparagus, and sgombro a scabeccio (mackerel fried in semola, served with tomatoes and sweet onions in vinegar sauce). Olivo also comes armed with plenty of pasta options, from ravioli alla melanzane to asparagus risotto.
The secondi section, meanwhile, offers up plenty of more substantial options. We’re talking porceddu (slow roasted Sardinian-style sucking pig served with roast potatoes), chargrilled veal escalope with sauteed spinach, and chicken milanese. As for desserts, the Olivo menu includes crowd-pleasers like vanilla, hazelnut or pistachio gelato, fruit sorbets, and tiramisu, alongside more unusual Sardinian-specific options like sebada, a traditional Sardinian fried cheese drizzled in honey.