Zomato takes GLC West to experience Hotel Xenia’s Evoluzione
I couldn’t find a picture of West London so I’ve put one of Italy here, hope that’s ok!
The first thing I have to say about Hotel Xenia is that it’s all a bit random. Mismatching wallpapers, tables, chairs, lighting, a massive wall clock and even the gaudy transparent piano, just don’t really hit my spot.
This hotel, coupled with the fact it was deep into Made in Chelsea territory right on the A4 Cromwell Road, is somewhere that I wouldn’t normally entertain.
But by the end of my first Zomato meetup my gloom had lifted significantly, as stuck to the side of the hotel, inside a rather elegant conservatory, is quite a fine restaurant indeed.
With just a few tables and a dining bar hugging a small serving area (which as we discovered worked well as a demonstration kitchen), Evoluzione is a really rather pleasant place to spend an evening.
Run by Italian chef Andrea Angeletti, a man well-known to the Michelin guide, Evoluzione is a new endeavour which you get the feeling that with a little time and some fine tuning, has the potential to be a real London fixture.
The first thing to say about the menu we were offered is ‘cheese’ – or more accurately, ‘CHEESE!’
In a six-course tasting offering, half were packed full of the stuff – and what a joy! Ricotta, Parmesan, Pecorino were all there – as stuffing, sauce and even fondue! Angeletti comes from the Marche region of central Italy, which I now dearly want to visit as I imagine it would be endless cow-full-fields and artisan cheese houses.
Chiboust
But I feel the true star of our menu was one with no cheese at all, and right up front as the first thing brought to us – the Ying Yang salmon with ginger and a sphere-enclosed sauce you mixed yourself. Half-cooked, half-cured, it was something I’d not experienced before and really quite joyous.
Ying Yang Salmon with marinated ginger and self shaken zest
Simply because you’d get bored of me detailing every dish, here is a list:
- Ying Yang Salmon with marinated ginger and self shaken zest
- Cheese bread with King Prawn and Pecorino sauce
- Dry cannelloni stuffed with ricotta cheese, porcini mushroom, veal & truffle dipping sauce
- Passatelli with parmesan fondue
- Sea bass cooked in olive oil with cream of potato and taggiasca olives
- Chiboust
Very good (and seemingly bottomless) wine matching throughout was a bonus!
Sea bass cooked in olive oil with cream of potato and taggiasca olives
What I liked most about this evening, which I can’t deny is a perk of being (pretending to be) a food blogger, is that the chef himself was on hand to demonstrate the techniques behind some of the dishes. In his quite charming broken English, this was a definite highlight.
Ok, so here’s what you need to know from this evening:
- This is a very good restaurant – the food is matched by attentive and well-trained waiters
- It’s probably even worth going to west London for (and believe me, something has to be really good to get me to go to west London)
- The people at Zomato are extremely lovely – I urge you to get to know them
- Meetups like this are a chance to meet fun people who make you feel less guilty about being a greedy foodie – especially on this occasion Olivia, Rajani, Susan, Zori and Alessandra. (Everyone else seemed very lovely, but I didn’t get the chance to speak with them all).
- Finally…please don’t take my word for the look and feel of the hotel – it does seem very nice; it’s just not for me.
GLC was a guest of Zomato and Hotel Xenia.
Some useful links:
TheJoyousLiving review of the evening
LuxuryColumnist review of the evening
Hotel Xenia can be found at 160 Cromwell Road, London SW5 0TL. Nearest tubes are Gloucester Road and Earl’s Court.
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