the UK Restaurant and Hotel Zine

Clifford Mould regrets that Grano
the Modern Italian in Chiswick has bitten the dust

This is the sort of cooking you used to be able to get in Chiswick. Sad, isn't it? We began with a salad of calamari, attractively arranged with the tentacled head of the squid emerging from a deep ring cut from the body. It looked like an exotic flower resting on a waterlily made from finely cut diagonals of zucchini. Squirls of sepia completed this creative picture. The second course on the degustazione was billed as Crema di porcini con seppiolini, but wisely, we thought, scallops had been substituted for the cuttlefish which would have been too similar to the squid. The rich taste of the porcini was heavenly. A pretty rice tart with mussels and grand tiger prawns was powerfully flavoured with saffron. I noticed a very elegant plate of pumpkin tagliatelle going to a nearby table. It was augmented with Italian sausage and judiciously decorated with very seasonal chestnuts... etc etc

Grano described its culinary style as "Modern Italian". If you are at all into dining out in Britain, or watch the wall to wall TV chef programmes you'll probably have some idea of what "Modern British" might mean. One wonders what, if anything, the average Italian who lives in Italy would understand by "Modern Italian"? In England, or at least in London, "Modern Italian" can be more easily defined (with a sense of relief) by what it is not. So for instance, no raffia covered Chianti bottles dangling from rustic beams and fake arches - no oval plates covered with beds of all purpose rice; no overcooked meats smothered in universal red tomato sauces - no sawdust dry grissini sticks - no sweet trolley groaning with caramelised oranges, profiteroles and mass produced tiramisu.

From what we gather from readers, it is precisely this travesty to which the Chiswick residents have returned. Perhaps they deserved it, because clearly they didn't patronise Grano in sufficient numbers. 

This was how reader Siobhan Long described her disappointment on arrival at Mama Maria:

I made a booking for Saturday night July 21st on the Grano phone number (recorded message) and received a confirmation call back.  Turned up to the address only to find another restaurant has taken its place - Cafe Mama Maria!  We decided to stay for a meal anyway.  Service was dithery (not worthy of the 12.5% "discretionary" pre-added to the bill), menu was limited, food was OK for the price (pasta £6 - £8 - mains around £10) but the tiramisu was fantastic. You could clearly see the perplexity on the customers faces when they entered into this transformed restaurant.  About 50% walked away disappointed that what they expected to be there wasn't, the rest stayed and took a chance, speculating for most of the evening as to what happened to Grano?>

Mama  Maria (ex Grano) 162 Thames Road, Chiswick London W4 Tel: 020 8995 0120

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