Like Rome and Venice, London is home to countless Italian restaurants, but only a small percentage are actually worth visiting. Right in the heart of London’s theatreland, the newest addition to the Macellaio RC restaurant group is one of the few Italian restaurants in central London worth your time.
Unlike so many other nearby tourist-trap restaurants, Macellaio RC does not employ waiters dressed as snooker players, scrambling to drag you through the doors; it doesn’t present menus littered with photos of frozen lasagne or overflowing bowls of carbonara; nor does the restaurant blast fractured accordion renditions of Nino Rota’s Godfather Love Theme through outdoor speakers in the hope of enticing tourists. Instead, the restaurant serves largely sensational food in a comfortable setting with professional, passionate service. Gimmicks aren’t necessary here, but the Soho restaurant does have a new concept.
Billed as ‘Il Teatro Della Carne’ (literally meaning ‘butchery theatre’), Macellaio RC Soho pays homage to its home next door to both the prestigious Gielgud and Sondheim Theatres. Produce is at the heart of the ‘theatre programme’, with chefs and waiters lending a touch of theatre to the dining experience. The 120-seat space is also structured like a theatre, with the kitchen and bar taking centre stage.
On the launch of the new restaurant, Macellaio RC founder Roberto Costa said: “Il Teatro della carne is the expression of my 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry. A menu designed to homage the quality of our products. A space that wants to recall a theatre setting as, to me, a restaurant is like a theatre. We open the curtains every time we start a service, the floor is our stage, and the waiters are the main actors of a play you will want to watch over and over again.”
As for the food served, Macellaio RC Soho continues to showcase exceptional meats. Afterall, macellaio is the Italian term for butcher. Yet fish is also showcased, with large fish such as salmon, tuna and hake matured and dry-aged, which helps to intensify the flavour and improve texture, as amino acid chains break down to create a rich, umami flavour.
Like the group’s other restaurants dotted around London, Macellaio RC Soho turns to the region of Piedmont for its beef. Fassona beef is favoured, with Roberto Costa having creating a pioneering supply chain where each step is checked and guaranteed by Costa himself. Beef is sourced from 170 Italian farms and only females are used, as the testosterone in males can cause an unpleasant flavour and toughness. The female cows, however, have a slightly sweet, supple flavour profile, fed on both hay and grains to keep the meat low in cholesterol and rich in Vitamin B. While Fassona beef is fairly lean, it’s not bereft of bold taste as it doesn’t exclusively rely on the fat for flavouring.
On a recent visit, dinner began with a lavish Macellaio RC steak tartare, enthusiastically prepared at the table, seeing the chopped beef mixed with condiments such as capers, chilli sauce and ‘Italian ketchup’, crowned with a raw egg yolk. Unlike so many steak tartares, the meat had a slight amount of bite, while the typical embellishments worked to bring out the excellent flavour of the Fassona beef without overwhelming.
A board of exemplary cold cuts followed, including paper-thin slivers of bresaola, prosciutto crudo San Daniele aged for 24 months and – best of all – coins of salami marinaded in Piedmontese Barolo wine. Elsewhere a dish of bruschetta capped with lardo, hazelnuts and honey was a particular highlight. A show of Italian simplicity, allowing the ingredients to do the talking, with each element contributing to an orchestra of harmonic flavours and textures.
Pasta followed. Al dente trofiette was served with a typical Genovese pesto and fresh green beans. A comforting, seasonally refreshing primi dish while awaiting the famous Macellaio RC steak, which arrived at the table to be shown off before grilling.
A huge Fassona costata (beef rib steak) was dry-aged for 7-9 weeks and served on the bone, cooked to a perfect degree of medium-rare. Heavily charred on the outside, the steak was sliced thick and simply seasoned with a flourish of flaky rock salt. With a clean taste, slight sweetness and a long aftertaste, the steak also vaunted a strip of perfectly rendered fat with a deliciously insalubrious, eggy flavour and buttery texture. To put it simply: it was exceptional. Macellaio RC serves some of the best steaks available in London right now, worthy of a long, drawn-out standing ovation.
Macellaio RC Soho can be found at 39 – 45 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6LA.