Once Zuaya, now Bottega 35. Same owners, new focus. This corner of Kensington is now Tuscan in its tastes.
There’s no shortage of restaurants around High St Ken. One of London’s premier ‘villages’ it offers lucky locals all kinds of choices for eating out and, with the giant Aladdin’s cave of Whole Foods, a luxurious way to eat in as wel
Zuaya once this site offered Mediterranean cuisine, a label that could, and indeed did, seem to cover almost everything. Now the owners have gone totally Tuscan with Bottega35.
It’s in a nice spot, in a tucked away corner that’s cosy and pedestrianised too so there are a few tables outside, which even in late September are being used. Inside it’s warm with earthy colours and restrained and tasteful decor.
It feels natural and not at all blingy. I like the wooden beams in the ceiling; okay they’re almost certainly fake, but it works. If I was a local I could come here on a regular basis for a weekday meal as it doesn’t feel like you have to dress up, just relax.
Tablecloths and linen napkins set a posh tone though, and water is swiftly brought. If there’s one thing we could learn from US restaurants it’s to always bring cold water to the table without asking and to not charge for it, either.
A short menu suits us at lunchtime, we have a lot to talk about and menu ‘perusing’ is a pain. We both want the Taleggio arancini with mushroom and I’ve become very fond of deep fried courgette (zucchini) so we share both dishes.
The ‘gettes are light, crispy and well drained – hardly a speck of oil stains the paper they sit on. The batter is translucent, almost tempura-like, letting the green glow through. I like the fact that they’re well-salted and we give up using forks and grapple for the last little ‘scraps’ (ask your Nan what scraps are).
A single arancini is excellent. The rice is pleasantly crunchy and the funk of the mushrooms is forest-floor fine. The cheese is fruity and has a good tang to it, a dribble of balsamic vinegar is a bit old-skool but it does work.
I don’t really class Vitello Tonnato, the Piemontese dish made with thinly sliced veal coated with a tuna and caper mayonnaise sauce, as a main dish but Bottega35 do. Anyway I love this dish so much I’d eat it even if it was classed as breakfast. Oh, now there’s an idea.
Good quality veal,l probably cut from a well-poached loin, and excellent sauce which is surprisingly greenish, I’m not sure why. I am also not sure what to have to bulk it up; roast potatoes would perhaps have been better than what I finally choose – Fagioli all’uccelletto. I was hoping for some simple white beans, with perhaps some garlic, I should have realised that Fagioli all’uccelletto is actually beans in tomato sauce, the inspiration for Heinz’s best-seller. Obviously these were better, but still not really appropriate.
The lasagne that lands over the table is quite a small portion, but that suits its owner who has a busy afternoon ahead. This is elegantly plated, which is not at all easy with lasagne, and I like what I tried of it.
For me it needs more meat sauce though and less bechamel, which is gorgeously creamy but a bit too much. I like that it is served at a proper temperature – all too often Italian restaurants reheat their lasagne to a degree that could melt steel. It should have come with a green salad though, something to cut the sauces.
At Bottega 35 they assemble their Tiramisu at table, which makes for great Insta obviously, but I think it’s a dish that needs to be assembled early so it can slowly become gloriously mushy in its lovely layers.
This is decadent all the same, rich with quality coffee, but it needs a bit more Marsala to boost it. The fine cocoa powder drifts onto my best pink shirt, which gets me told off when I arrive home.
For all this very decent food, surprisingly, unlike my pink shirt, Bottega35 is not terribly expensive, which is not something you often can say in this area.
We neck the last of a decent red and head off.
I don’t think Bottega 35 is looking to be the coolest Italian in town, thankfully, but a place that can be relied on by regulars and locals alike and it does that. The cooking is generally good and the menu has enough variety to repay multiple visits.
35 Kensington High St, London W8 5EB
.