London Restaurant Reviews - Polpo

I thought there would be nothing else to add to the media frenzy surrounding ?Polpo?, the new Italian darling and makers of cicheti or small-eats, or tapas or whatever-you-wanna-call-it in Soho. It?s been blogged and highly praised by just about every food blogger in London ? but after my disappointing meal there last Saturday, I thought I would put pen to paper and dare to differ.

First impressions were excellent ? the décor was charming, the front-of-house staff very friendly and the place nearly full and buzzing with a beautiful and trendy crowd at 5:45pm.

We started the evening by ordering a couple of their breads, ?White Bean Bruschetta? @ £4 and ?Wild Mushroom Piadina? @ £4.80, followed by a selection of ?cicheti and crostini?. The white beans had been cooked in rosemary and were very aromatic and perfectly al dente, a good Italian version of beans on toast. The ?Piadina? was similar to a crepe and was filled with fried wild mushrooms. Both breads were nicely prepared although the portions were ludicrously small. We ordered two portions of each, and struggled to share them among the five of us.

Our selection of ?cicheti and crostini? included ?arancini? @ £1.50, ?anchovy & chick pea crostini? @ £1.10, ?potato and parmesan croquette? @ £1.20 and ?salt cod on grilled polenta? @ £2.10. 

I love Italian ?baccala? (salted cod), and cook it frequently at home ? I have made a similar dish of flaked salted cod with parsley, garlic and olive oil over grilled polenta a few times at home. These intensely flavoured ingredients should balance beautifully with the blander polenta, and when well made this dish is truly heavenly. Polpo?s version however was very disappointing ? the polenta was cold and soggy, and the salted cod completely tasteless. We ordered three pieces and we all agreed they were rather poor.

The ?arancini? were tiny and very uninspiring, and so were the ?anchovy & chick pea crostini? and ?potato and parmesan croquettes?. I tried a bit of each, and struggle to find anything at all to say about them. Completely ?passable? comes to mind.

The more ?substantial? meat and fish dishes that we ordered included ?Slow Roasted Duck? @ £6.10, ?Calves Liver, Onion and Sage? @ £5.90, ?Grilled Flank Steak with Mushroom? @ £6.90, and ?Fritto Misto? @ £6.60. We also ordered a portion of ?Pork Belly, Radicchio and Hazelnuts? @ £5.70 but it never turned up.

Two of these dishes were good ? the calves liver was well cooked, although not as delicately flavoured and soft as it should have been, while the ?fritto misto? (deep fried whitebait and seafood) was crisp and utterly delicious.

The flank steak was beautifully presented but in my opinion lacked seasoning, and the slow roasted duck was unexciting. It was served in a pool of tomato sauce and did not look terribly appetizing. All portions were very ungenerous.

To accompany the above we also ordered a portion of ?Roast Potatoes and Rosemary? @ £3.70, ?Grilled Polenta? @ £3 and ?Fennel, Curly Endive and Almonds? @ £3.90. These were all well made and flavoursome, but again the portions were minute.

For pudding, we had a few ?Affogato al caffe? @ £2.60 each (vanilla ice cream immersed in espresso coffee), ?Flourless Orange & Almond Cake? @ £4.40, and ?Honey & Walnut Semifreddo? @ £3.80. The affogato tasted just right - both the ice cream and the coffee were of high quality. 

The orange and almond cake was light and delicious, and I enjoyed it  immensely. I did not try the semifreddo but John seemed impressed with his choice.

The wine list was impressive and reasonably priced, with bottles of white and red starting at £15 through to £38. Polpo serves most of its whites and a few reds in 250ml and 500ml measures at no extra cost. A bottle of 750ml will cost £15 while 500ml & 250ml measures will cost £10 and £5 respectively. This is a nice thought,  and the flat pricing structure should encourage wine drinkers to try different wine combinations to accompany their cicheti.

My dinner companions were old friends from a wine club I used to belong to in Dulwich (Dulwich Wine Society), and therefore our wine choices were good but rather pricey. We had a couple of bottles of Gavi (white) @ £30 each and two of Piemonte Barbera (red) @ £21 each. The total bill came to £208, including service, or £42 per person. The general consensus was that it was a disappointing and expensive meal and some of us were still peckish at the end of it.