Cecconi's Private Room, Cecconi's Private Room

Unfortunately, it seems as though this restaurant’s strive to make its food LOOK as aesthetically pleasing as possible resulted in its flavours being subpar, akin to those of a university student trying to make their first meal away from home. My first dish made away from home certainly did better than this. Our waiter did bear with us whilst our party arrived at staggered times, which did take quite a while but his attentiveness did not falter. He made sure to top up our water throughout and ask if we had a preference to order drinks whilst we waited. There was a minimal wait before the starters arrived. The starters were pleasant, my party of 8 people opted to share the following: zucchini fritti with lemon aioli (which came with the calamari too), calamari, truffle arancini and focaccia with extra virgin olive oil. These starters were an enjoyable part of the anticipation of our main dishes. I ordered the black truffle tagliolini as I am a fan of anything and everything with truffle. To a hungry mind, anything can be described as revolutionaraliy delicious but the starters had already prepared me to make a nuanced decision about the quality of this dish. Perhaps al dente was taken too literally as the tagliolini was rather tough, still clumped together making for a bunch of stodgy mouthfuls of pasta. The word “drizzle” or “moderate serving” of truffle oil and butter could also be better explained to chefs in practice as not only my plate and pasta was drenched, but every mouthful would leave my mouth coated with abundant layers of oil. Truffle oil is delicious, but not when it is used in this manner. I did manage to finish the dish surprisingly, with a side of fries topped with truffle and a very minimal helping of parmesan - this was a far more enjoyable truffle dish. Oddly enough, Cecconi’s desserts proved better than their mains. The tiramisu posed delicious sponge fingers which a mellow mascarpone filling topped with cocoa, a thorough delight. Their cheesecake with a berry compote definitely impressed, the biscuit base retained a pleasant tough texture that was not too soft and crumbly nor too hard. The cream cheese and berry compote had a lovely, balanced sweet taste. The desserts saved the meal from being rated even lower. Perhaps it was high expectations as a Soho House restaurant and misleading pictures on the internet, but I do not think another visit is in my future plans. Name, titles, feigned aesthetics will only get you so far even with good service from staff.

The food was unfortunately not worth the hype - we only had 2 plates so we maybe ordered the wrong food. We had a 4 cheese pizza which was really good but the pasta was less attractive