Luciano

I had a very pleasant lunch today as the guest of an old university chum who is doing very well in Broadcast Media.

Luciano is a joint venture between Sir Rocco Forte and Marco Pierre White located on the original site of Madame Prunier’s fish restaurant, one of London top restaurant destinations during the first half of the last century. Up to 2005 it was a very good if somewhat pricey Japanese retaurant called Suntory.

The restaurant is very spacious with a clubby feel that suits it's location in St James's .

The food is good and comaprable to Cecconi's just up the road and the wine list has some good selections of Italian wines but as to be expected in an area with astronomical rents , not many bargains.

I started with what was an over generous primo piato of Linguinni with a Rabbit Ragu and then decided to try the Costoletta Milanese served with rocket , finochio and cherry tomatoes in a light olive oil and lemon dressing.

The Linguinni was very good and beuatifully cooked whilst the Veal despite being a little burnt on one edge ( see picture) was well prepared witout the taste of overcooked butter that I sometimes find at Cecconi's.

The fried Zuchinni were very delicate and as good as L'Anima which is a tough act to follow.

One of my comapnions had a beautifully prepared calves liver with pancetta and sage served on mash. I tasted his starter of Pasta Fagioli ,a special of the day , and it was
really very well made.

We drank a very refreshing Gavi di Gavi Morgassi Superiore 2002 and Planeta (Sicilian) Merlot 2003. The latter seems much subtler than when I first tried it 5 years ago and was really very pleasnat indeed.

No room or time for puds and coffee.