Tinello, Pimlico Road

Mr Oil and Mr Vinegar have been to the bit of Pimlico where the residents claim they are in Belgravia, to sample Tinello, the latest restaurant backed by Giorgio Locatelli.

MrO: I have always liked Locatelli restaurants. Zafferano was excellent and when he fell out with the financial backers and had to leave it was rather a tragedy.
MrV: Tragedy is probably too strong a word for a cook moving from one kitchen to another. Anyway, from what I hear it did him a huge favour, as Zafferano had been so stressful he’d sacked dozens of staff.
MrO: The next one, Locanda Locatelli, has been a great success. I don’t know how he manages to achieve such a pleasant and peaceful atmosphere in the restaurant with all that aggression going on behind the kitchen door.
MrV: Probably something to with the location – a dreary no-man’s-land north of Marble Arch.
MrO: It’s true that you don’t see as many PR types hanging out there as often as you might expect.
MrV: I think they’re all scared because of the killing.
MrO: What killing?
MrV: Late 80s, the European boss of that American PR firm, Burson Marsteller, was stabbed to death in a room at the Churchill, which is the hotel where Locanda Locatelli is. I think most PR people are scared that any one of their clients might do the same to them at the drop of a hat, so they steer clear.
MrO: Hmmn, a slightly fanciful theory, I think, but congratulations on your long memory. Anyway, what did you think of Tinello?
MrV: I quite liked its predecessor, L’Incontro, but that was very expensive. This is an improvement in both price and quality of food, I believe.
MrO: Good Heavens. You’ve said something positive.
MrV: I have waited for ages for other than Spanish and Oriental restaurants to offer a starter consisting of several dishes – tapas, in effect – and Tinello has done it, so well done.
MrO: Yes, I like the idea of “Small Eats”, as they call it, instead of a one-dish starter – although they did those as well - and they were very good. I particularly liked the deep fried Sicilian prawns but the prosciutto, the crostini, the zucchini fritte – all very tasty and nicely executed.
MrV: Don’t say executed – makes me think of the Churchill again. My gurnard linguine was absolutely delicious – a very rich fishy flavour, which was surprising because gurnard can be a bit bland.
MrO: My paccheri pasta tubes were very good with nduja...
MrV: Hinduja? The Indian billionaire? Was he there?
MrO: ...no, nduja. Soft sausagey stuff. Very tasty. I told you this at the time. What’s happened to that great memory of yours?
MrV: I recall that the sorbet was pretty decent, but that the bottle of Barbera was a little unimpressive at £45. Still, apart from that it all seemed very reasonably priced and I will go again.

Mr Oil and Mr Vinegar ate six “Small Eats” as a starter followed by a pasta dish each and then sorbet. They drank a half bottle of Gavi, a bottle of Barbera, two glasses of limoncello, a glass of pudding wine and coffee, at a total cost of about £150.

Tinello
87 Pimlico Road
London
SW1W 8PH
Tel: +44 207 730 3663

info@tinello.co.uk
http://www.tinello.co.uk