Cicchetti

Cicchetti, pronounced chi-KET-tee, (I learn after I had been calling it Chi-CHET-ee the whole week) is the latest all-day dining restaurant from the award-winning San Carlo group of Italian restaurants.

The restaurant location is outstanding as proven by the fact that it was spotted by one of us as we emerged out of Piccadilly station before Google maps had even loaded. We sat down at our table for lunch and service was busy, however the first thing you notice is the shiny newness of everything which made the inside look like the Disney version of your typical Italian restaurant but tastefully done all the same.

Cicchetti takes its name from the small dishes typically served in a traditional 'bàcari' (cicchetti bars or osterie) in Venice, Italy. Perhaps an easier description is that is the Italian version of tapas so it was recommended to order to 2 or 3 dishes each we could be shared between the two of us.

The menu is pretty large so some help navigating your way round it is always worth seeking out so we tried some of the house favourites such as the truffle pecorino ravioli which we fought over the last piece and the lamb cutlets. We then picked some personal favourites and tried one of their pizzas with salami and red chilli, some Italian sausage with baby tomatoes, an octopus dish which was nicely charred around the edges and some zucchini fritti. For finale we got a sharing dessert for 2 which was a mass/mess of nutella, vanilla and chocolate ice cream with crushed ferrero rocher.

As mentioned the restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner so we had a quick browse of their breakfast menu and was pleased to see they did a traditional full English (it was also nice of them to admit on their menu that some dishes the Brits do do best), smoked salmon scrambled eggs, pastries, pancakes and eggs benedict were also on offer.

Cicchetti (Chi-Ket-tee remember) in my opinion makes for a great high-end family restaurant, there is certainly something on the menu for everyone and for everyone to try new things, the staff are super-efficient, friendly and importantly ITALIAN and the food is simple and delicious. Thumbs up from us at My Guide.