Angela Hartnett’s Café Murano in St James’s may not deliver many shocks when it comes to its simple Italian food, but the venue has quickly become an SW1 staple. So news from the chef that she is to open a second outpost in Covent Garden on 29 June will definitely please the restaurant’s fans.
Café Murano (part deux) will open in Tavistock Street, hopefully bringing with it the “unpretentious and charming” atmosphere and “genial” service of its St James’s sibling. The menus and wine list will champion seasonal, Italian ingredients, as will a food and wine shop adjacent to the restaurant.
The 140-cover restaurant will be set across two floors, designed by ‘Russell Sage Studios’ and featuring terracotta leather upholstered banquette seating, dark wooden tables, antiqued mirror panelling and Carrara marble bar.
On the menu: Octopus, potatoes, capers and paprika; ricotta courgettes with preserved lemon honey; farfalle, rabbit, peas and girolles; and gnocchi, feta, rosemary and olive oil alongside Murano St James’s classics chicken Milanese and lobster linguine.
