Now here’s a place I didn’t expect. Situated in the normally staid area around Gloucester Place and Baker Street my Dad and I were referred by his hotel over to Il Baretto. I know the Hyatt Churchill is a nice hotel and they have no reason to point us in the direction of somewhere that isn’t nice…but still have a hard time taking recommendations from hotels at face value. I feel like there must be something in it for them. This, however, seemed to be a completely honest recommendation and man am I glad we took it. The place seemed pretty quiet at 7:30 when we arrived, but when we left at 9:30 the place was absolutely buzzing. My starter of bruschetta with tomato and roasted red peppers was a nice change from what you usually expect out of bruschetta. I had a basic gnocchi with veal ragu sauce but they managed to make each gnocchi really light and fluffy (I’ve also come to expect gnocchi to be heavy and doughy). So that’s two surprises. The main course did take a really long time to come out, but the manager came over to apologise and treated us to some fried zucchini…or is it courgette?…and was extremely (some might say overly) friendly. Pats on the back, shaking hands, that kind of thing. I’ll definitely be back.
The Tip: Osteria Antica Bologna
The Tipster: