Pescatori (Bar, Restaurant)

Top 10 things we discovered about Pescatori restaurant when we visited:

1) Charlotte Street is a hive of foodie activity. Pescatori, an Italian restaurant, is hidden down a little street off the main stretch. You may need to search to find it, but you will be rewarded.

2) Couples share oysters by twinkling candlelight, and when the weather is nice, they take a glass of wine to drink alfresco. Pescatori is, therefore, the perfect restaurant to share with someone you love.

3) Although the restaurant has an amazing selection of fish on the menu – the seafood being the main reason to visit (hence the name) – Pescatori also offers vegetarian antipasti that cannot and should not be ignored. The cheese-stuffed and deep-fried courgette flowers – a delicacy in Italy and a dish I enjoyed many times on a visit to Rome – didn’t disappoint. I could have eaten only this dish on my visit and left perfectly happy.

4) Choose a sharing platter if you visit with a partner or a friend. The platters, known as ‘Da dividere’ on the menu, are big enough for two to enjoy without either person becoming too full to enjoy the main meal.

5) You shouldn’t visit Pescatori without trying a dish from the ‘Pesce di paranza’ (translated to ‘day boat fish’) section of the menu. The restaurant offers a selection of fish bought fresh from the market that morning. I decided to go for the lobster and fresh tomato spaghetti, and it didn’t disappoint.

6) Not a fish lover? Not to worry. My partner chose the 28-day aged sirloin steak – a perfectly bloody piece of meat that had been treated with loving hands in the kitchen – garnished with a chargrilled artichoke.

7) For a real taste of Italy, order the tomato salad and crispy fried zucchini as sides; the former, mouth-wateringly fresh and zingy; the latter, light, not greasy, and a million times better than their potato counterparts.

8) If you’ve got space (unlikely), go for dessert: the cherry tart with spiced ice cream is a triumph.

9) If you’re eating Italian food, especially fish, on a hot and sultry evening, you need to have a nice crisp glass of white wine to accompany it. It’s criminal not to.

10) However, the best meals (like this one) always start with a cold glass of Prosecco....read more