A festival of food for staycation in Marylebone Village
Sampling a host of cuisines during a gastronomy-inspired weekend trip
Fbig smoke. London’s restaurant scene is arguably the finest known to man, a rich tapestry of cuisines celebrating flavours enjoyed across the globe, with places like Marylebone Village playing a huge part in helping to secure our capital city’s status as one of the world’s top food destinations.
And with Marylebone’s annual Food Festival looming, it only seemed right that selfconfessed ‘foodies’ like my wife and I should sample some of the area’s finest culinary offerings.
CALDESI
ood, glorious food! That was the name of the game for our springtime gastronomical-inspired weekend trip to the
Feeling hungry, we began our ‘food safari’ with a sumptuous lunch at Caldesi, Marylebone’s very own ‘Little Corner of Italy’ which also has its own cookery school.
Founded by celebrity chef and restaurateur Giancarlo Caldesi, they pride themselves on using the finest Italian produce while also boasting an extensive range of wines, handcrafted cocktails and ‘birra’.
Hopping straight off the train for our noon booking, it didn’t seem too early to go for the full Caldesi experience as we started as we meant to go on, enjoying wine pairings with three of their finest dishes.
An amuse bouche of quinoa on Melba toast prepared the palate for our first course, a signature pasta dish of Ravioli stuffed with seabass in lemon butter. Fresh, zesty and downright delicious, it went perfectly with the accompanying Fiani di Avelino white.
Next up were two sharing plates of Linguine, with burrata and prawns, which were accompanied by a glass of Bardolino Chiaretto red, although the star of the show for me was Giancarlo’s Tuscan Lasagne, which was so mouthwatering and rich in flavour it could only be complemented by a more full-bodied red - the Chianti Colli Senesi.
ROCOCO CHOCOLATES
After rounding off lunch with Giancarlo’s famous tiramisu, there wasn’t room for much else food-wise, but an opportunity to visit to one of the best chocolate shops in London - Rococo could not be missed.
With a rich British heritage and over 35 years of chocolate expertise, Rococo pride themselves on bringing ‘first-time’ tastes and experiences to customers, and despite full stomachs, it would have been wrong not to sample a few sweet treats.
The shop has a beautiful interior, engulfed by beautiful displays of their huge range of ‘choccy’ bars, bags and boxes, leaving customers ‘literally’ feeling like a kid in a sweet shop.
THE COACH MAKERS ARMS
Despite all the exciting new businesses popping up, a longstanding feature of Marylebone is its mix of traditional British pubs, like The Marylebone
on the High Street where we enjoyed a lunchtime cocktail, but for dinner our chosen port of call was the popular Coach Makers Arms on Marylebone Lane.
Built 140 years ago on the banks of the now-buried River Tyburn, the historic Coach Makers occupies three levels split into a bustling pub on the ground floor, an atmospheric restaurant upstairs and its hidden gem, a relaxing ‘basement’ cocktail bar for a more sedate experience.
In keeping with tradition, the cuisine is British gastropub and after a feast of hearty delights including cheddar souffle, half-shell scallops, fish pie and a 300g fillet steak, we headed downstairs and slumped into comfortable chairs as the barman prepared us a couple of specially-tailored cocktails.
During the festival The Coach Makers will be offering a set menu of three courses from £50 per person while also teaming up with East London Liquor on its drinks offerings.
LA FROMAGERIE
If you’re a cheese lover, you can’t visit Marylebone Village without a trip to La Fromagerie, which has a dedicated walk-in cheese room where an affineur (cheese specialist) is on hand to help customers.
There isn’t a cheese they don’t have and with cool bag in hand, we stocked up on a small selection to take home. It’s worth having a wander around the shop which also sells artisan breads, charcuterie, fine wines and a variety of dry store ingredients.