La Bellezza has a terrace. It’s nice. I know it’s nice because I sat outside there two weeks ago, nursing a glass of excellent red wine, face set to the kind of scowl that should come with a ten metre warning. I had been in town to do some work stuff and some wedding stuff and neither had gone to plan, so I resorted to my go-to which is to drink alone whilst sending passive aggressive emails that have little passive about them. I happen to be very good at both. Anyhow, back to the terrace. It’s nice. I know it’s nice because one glass turned into several, and soon I was looking over a sunny Chamberlain Square all doe-eyed and up to Eighteen where hopefully it’ll be okay on the day, and people from inside came outside to say hello and people passing waved and said hello. Sophie, who was doing her real job in a badly ageing building around the corner, messaged to ask where I was and how it was going. Badly, I told her. She suggested some dinner, which is always a good idea, and suggested we stay at La Bellezza because they had dishes on the new menu she wanted to eat. Hence the couple of hundred pound bill. Hence the second review of the restaurant this year.
Spoiler alert; I still really, really like it. Like, really like it. Really like it for all the reasons I really liked it before, which is mostly down to them doing very nice food with some really exceptional ingredients. Really like it because the service is excellent. Really like it because it’s a beautiful spot to eat food and overlook Chamberlain Square and the art gallery. So if you can’t be arsed to read anymore, you can stop here. I really, really like it. It is, it is wicked. I’m lovin’ it, lovin’ it, lovin’ it. I am loving it like that.
Everything we ate was new. Croquettes of mashed potato are a vehicle for excellent white crab meat seasoned with salt and a little lemon, with lemon aioli for that dressed crab feel. Better was asparagus blasted over the grill to accentuate the woody notes, with salsa verde full of bright acidic notes, toasted hazelnuts, and parmesan. Simple and delicious. Exactly what Italian food should be.
Same with the ragu. There is no messing about with the recipe, it’s as traditional as the one I know; parts pork, parts beef, a slow gentle cook with aromats and good stock and a glug of hearty red wine. Sauce reduced to the point that it coats the pasta. Loads of pecorino. Eat it like a true Italian. Never, ever cut the pasta. Always ask for bread to mop up the sauce. Sophie went for the ravioli, cleverly made so that down one side was filled with a lemon ricotta mix and the other side an asparagus, pea, and ricotta mix, a bit like the flag of Kerry according to google. We paid five pounds for the truffle supplement which was a bad call on my behalf given that spring truffles are almost as pointless as summer truffles, but the rest of it, bravo, that’s some great pasta work right there. We order the skewer of chicken because it sounds nice, not realising it is a meal in itself. The skewer of meat could easily be souvlaki elsewhere; the marinade of lemon and garlic is light, the cook and quality of the chicken excellent. It comes with more salsa verde, crushed and fried new potatoes, spinach, and a yogurt dip. I think it’s going to be a regular as I try to stay off the bread for a few weeks.
They have strawberries with chantilly cream on the menu, so I’m always having that, plus a little dip into the digestif trolley for limoncello and amaro. The bill for the two of us is £182, which I appreciate sounds a little much for a mid-week dinner, but does include cocktails and too much wine. Service was as brilliant as ever and I am conscious that I am nice about them too much, so I’ll leave it here: In between us eating dinner and me writing this, Sophie has been back for one of her hen parties and I have had a solo lunch. My future mother-in-law who loves it arguably more than we do, is going twice more in the next three weeks and then will be hosting a table of ten the night before we get married; the same night that six of my friends have booked in for a pre-wedding dinner. This simply wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t very good. The reality is that the city centre choices are sparse and La Bellezza is the best place for that all important best time. I am delighted we have it here in the city.
9/10
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