#cotidie

Cotidie is an Italian restaurant in Marylebone and with Chef Bruno Barbieri at the helm of the kitchen, I was expecting a wonderful dinner and an attentive service.

I mean, the guy has won a total of seven Michelin stars. Seven stars are not achieved by chance. The food must be wonderful in there!

Chef Barbieri is also one the judges on the Italian Masterchef (nicknamed Bastardchef because of the rudeness of a judge in particular) and he became known to the masses for his famous “Mappazzone” a word in Bolognese to indicate a “dish of low quality in its preparation” or as Bastianich (the rude one) would say “it is sh*t”.

Anyway, I’m not here to talk about the personalities but about the chefs and their ability of presenting wonderful food to paying customers.

The only problem is that at Cotidie, Mr Mappazzone hasn’t been seen for the last three months…I do appreciate that a chef cannot be present every single day in his flagship restaurant in London (no? really???) but three months without checking what goes out of that kitchen?! Not a good start. I wish the waiter lied to us!

After the first disappointing blow, I noticed another detail that made me question the quality of the restaurant, our cutlery plates were chipped. Would you present a chipped plate to your guest? I wouldn’t and I’d expect a top restaurant (wannabe) in London to do the same.

Perception so far wasn’t up to what you’d expect. A look at the menu gave me the impression of modern Italian with some creative ideas and a good selection of wine to complement the food.

To start the experience, our waiter suggested we tried a Tomino wrapped in pancetta and a goose foie gras with confit tomatoes.

Let me start here…

Tomino is a famous Italian cheese from the north of Italy and it is wonderful when wrapped in pancetta and grilled to present a soft and warm core of cheese…mmhhhh I love melted cheese. Shame this dish didn’t deliver that wow factor.

First, it doesn’t require any particular skills and to be honest I’d see it on the menu of a trattoria rather than in a fancy wannabe restaurant in London. Second, given that it is a basic dish to prepare, can you please get it right and make sure it is melted in the middle? Cold Tomino is not good. Tomino was born to have a soft heart.

Rating: 5/10 (I was going to give it a 6 but having seen the tired presentation – a heap of rocket on top of the cheese, I had to take it down a notch).

The goose foie gras (apparently flown in directly from Israel – even if it looks like production of foie gras is banned) was ok. Yes, just ok. I’m a big lover of duck foie gras and was actually excited to try a variation on the theme. Honestly there’s not a massive difference from duck and goose foie gras, with the latter having a lighter and sweeter taste. I really liked the confit cherry tomatoes though.

Rating: 6/10 (I’d have loved it a bit warmer than what it was served. Definitely did not justice to the poor goose).

For main we were advised by the waiter to try the bocconcini rib eye with artichokes and onions. Given that I’m a sucker for meat and artichokes, I had to have it. I was intrigued by the bocconcini (small bites in Italian) and I asked the waiter the reason why you’d reduce a nice rib eye steak into bites and he said it was done to keep the beef hot…??? Since when small bits keep the heat better than a whole chunk? Oh well, let’s try it.

Well, surprise surprise, the waiter was wrong. The bocconcini turned cold within a couple of minutes they were served. To be fair the artichokes were good and the onions were crunchy the way I like them and perfectly seasoned. You buy steak you get good veggie. Nice one.

And what about the presentation? Balsamic drizzle and parsley is so 2011. Those who can't, drizzle...

Rating: 5/10. Meat turned cold quickly and I honestly see no point of reducing a nice rib eye into bites. Especially with that price tag (£26).

We were still hungry for dessert and we had a caramel bavarese with raspberry coulis and delicious Fried beignets filled with vanilla custard, maple syrup and candied orange zest.

They were both good and we were so quick in devouring the beignets that I didn’t have the time to take a picture. The vanilla custard was right up my street as well.

Rating: 8/10 nothing to add. Just good desserts.

Being Italian we wanted to finish off our dinner with a nice espresso and when we asked at 23:29 for two coffees, the waiter said the restaurant was closing at 23:30 (!!!) and they’ve already cleaned the coffee machine…thanks for asking if we wanted anything else. FAIL on service.

Service Rating: 5/10 a bit too sloppy given the kind of restaurant. This includes wrong answers, chipped dishware and fail on the coffee.

Still, even without a coffee, our mouth was left bitter by the bill as it came up to £200, including wine (a bottle of Rubesco Lungarotti 2008), two grappas, two whiskeys and service. Definitely not worth the whole experience and an overall rating of 6/10…

I don’t mind spending money on food but I would like to enjoy a quality meal with an attentive service in exchange of my hard-earned cash. Sorry it didn’t feel like this at Cotidie.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the marriage Barbieri-Cotidie would end some time soon given the average quality of the food and the fact that he hasn’t been spotted sweating over the stove for the last three months…

Cotidie is a latin word that means everyday but trust me, given the price tag and the average food, they are not going to see me every day (and not even every year!).