Tortello Restaurant: Handmade Pasta, and a Tiramisu to Rival Treviso
When a restaurant leans this hard on the promise of an authentic Italian escape, it's putting a lot on the line.
But the second I stepped into Tortello, the new trattoria overlooking Hyde Park's Italian Gardens, I was sold.
The terrace alone could talk me into a long, lazy afternoon. But the real magic, unsurprisingly, was on the plate.
Credits: Tortello
A shell of a good start
We kicked off with a classic tomato bruschetta, and the tomatoes alone set the bar sky high. Then came the Orkney crab tortelli, and it properly stole the show.
Striking charcoal pasta, a delicate lemon butter emulsion, and a texture-to-flavour balance I'm still thinking about. It's up there with the best pasta dishes I've had in a long time.
You can tell from the first bite that this kitchen makes its pasta fresh, in-house, every single day. It shows.
Credits: Tortello
Main characters and food envy
With that kind of start, the mains had a lot to live up to, and somehow they still delivered.
I was torn on what to order, so I let the staff steer me towards the Calamarata, tossed with prawns, clams, Dorset mussels and a tomato, chilli and white wine sauce that hit exactly the right note.
Across the table, the beef shin ragù tagliatelle with cacio ricotta was doing its own thing entirely. Rich, comforting, and properly traditional.
Neither dish left room for food envy. Both were spot on.
Credits: Tortello
Treviso, eat your heart out
I'm a dessert person through and through, and I've eaten tiramisu all over the world, including in Treviso itself, where the whole thing started. So my expectations walked in the door before I did.
Tortello's hazelnut tiramisu with Maldon salt cleared that bar. Rich, velvety mascarpone meets a hit of flaky sea salt, and the result is, without exaggeration, the best tiramisu I've had in London.
Our hostess backed me up on this one too, putting it down to just how much mascarpone goes into the base. A quiet compliment to the chef suggested this isn't a one-off either, apparently it's just what happens in that kitchen most nights.
Credits: Tortello
The final lap (and a Fiat)
Soft lighting, a relaxed buzz, staff who actually know the menu and seem to enjoy talking about it. Tortello gets the atmosphere right without trying too hard.
And on the way to the bathroom, there's a miniature branded Fiat parked up, practically begging for a selfie.
It sums the place up nicely, with proper, considered cooking wrapped in a night out that doesn't take itself too seriously.
Credits: Tortello
