Headed up by ex-Murano chef Carlo Scotto — the “only Italian chef in London who’s not cooking Italian food”, apparently — Xier and XR are two genre-bending restaurants touting some pretty avant-garde flavour combinations in Marylebone. Downstairs you’ll find XR, with its more casual atmosphere and approachable prices (three courses are £30 at lunchtime) but it’s upstairs at Xier where Scotto is looking up at those [Michelin] stars with his 10-course tasting menu. It’s not exactly a snip at £90 but you can be sure of a three-hour journey of wild combinations.
Pretty in pink, the rose-cured salmon.
We started off with an ode to yeast: a glass of champagne and fresh rosemary bread (still warm from the oven) served with smoked butter — an utter delight. When the plates arrive, you can feel Scotto’s IDGAF personality and meticulous perfectionism. He’s pushing the envelope: dishes like rose-cured salmon nestled against a quenelle of beetroot-dusted foie gras aren’t going to be to everyone’s taste. Ultimately, I couldn’t get over that fact that rose will always be my least favourite flavour of Turkish delight but I was totally in love with the following course, Europe Meets Asia, a beurre noisette gnocchi and warm kombu tea. I will wrinkle my nose at anything too overtly ‘fusion’-y but this was pure savoury goodness and dumpling-shaped joy. And that’s just the warm up to the ‘main' courses. I won’t give the finale away, the aptly-named sweet tooth, but highlights from this lavish dessert-a-thon include some pretty special coffee ice cream and rhubarb three ways.
We started off with an ode to yeast: a glass of champagne and fresh rosemary bread (still warm from the oven) served with smoked butter — an utter delight. When the plates arrive, you can feel Scotto’s IDGAF personality and meticulous perfectionism. He’s pushing the envelope: dishes like rose-cured salmon nestled against a quenelle of beetroot-dusted foie gras aren’t going to be to everyone’s taste. Ultimately, I couldn’t get over that fact that rose will always be my least favourite flavour of Turkish delight but I was totally in love with the following course, Europe Meets Asia, a beurre noisette gnocchi and warm kombu tea. I will wrinkle my nose at anything too overtly ‘fusion’-y but this was pure savoury goodness and dumpling-shaped joy. And that’s just the warm up to the ‘main' courses. I won’t give the finale away, the aptly-named sweet tooth, but highlights from this lavish dessert-a-thon include some pretty special coffee ice cream and rhubarb three ways.
The DesignMyNight Digest
Intrigued? Xier is a very personal meandering through Neopolitan chef Carlo’s culinary journey across Scandinavia and Southeast Asia. Artful presentation, super-attentive service — and you’re guaranteed to have a lot to talk about with each dish as you work out what the hell is going on in your gob.
