Dolada, Albermarle Street, Mayfair

Mr Oil and Mr Vinegar have decided to review Dolada in Albermarle Street, Mayfair – a restaurant famed for its high prices. The results are surprising...

MrV: I went in there with my hackles up. Partly because I didn’t much rate it in its former guise, Mosaico. But also, I hate it when I read about how expensive a restaurant is. It makes me determined to dislike the place, because I can’t help feeling the management is taking me for a mug.
MrO: I know exactly what you mean. But how extraordinary it is that no one has noticed what appears to be a sea-change in the pricing.
MrV: Perhaps they were stung by the criticisms. People do bridle when they’re told that the starters are £28 or something silly.
MrO: Or perhaps, bearing in mind the recession, they simply responded to their customers’ requirements, like all good businesses should.
MrV: At any rate, that was one of the best-value lunches I’ve had in Mayfair in a long time. It’s funny how those little roads between Piccadilly and Mayfair sometimes yield real restaurant bargains, particularly at lunchtime. Go a hundred yards north and you’re paying twice as much.
MrO: As soon as I walked into Dolada I loved it. The decor, lighting and furniture are all extremely soothing.
MrV: Full of proper grown-ups too: no flashy young spivs – although there was that young man with a beard, sitting with his parents. If my son ever grows a beard I’ll disinherit him.
MrO: The chairs were very comfortable and the tables were properly spaced so that you could hear other people talking but you couldn’t hear what they were saying.
MrV: And the waitresses are all rather appealing. I don’t know why men bother spending fortunes on consorting with women of the night when all they really want is for a pretty girl to be nice to them, which they can get for the price of a tip after dinner in a decent restaurant.
MrO: I hadn’t ever thought about it like that but you might be right. Anyway, it was a good move going with the Business Lunch...
MrV: Made me feel like a real Man of the People.
MrO: ...which is very good value at £21 for three courses. My bruschetta was very good. The trick with bruschetta is getting the toast crunchy enough, which restaurant kitchens often cannot do.
MrV: My salamis and other cold meats were very good. I particularly liked the pickled turnip or swede or whatever it was – not too vinegary.
MrO: I’m surprised that you don’t like a lot of vinegar, but perhaps your system manufactures so much that you’re in danger of overdosing.
MrV: Aren’t you funny? The spaghetti alle vongole was pretty good. I believe that spaghetti alle vongole is the surpreme test of an Italian restaurant. It’s such a simple dish but apparently one which is very easy to mess up.
MrO: I agree. A disappointing spaghetti alle vongole was what put me off San Lorenzo many years ago.
MrV: I had a distinctly unimpressive one at the River Cafe recently. That place does irritate me – full of grungy left-wing civil servants, design gurus and other crude, unhelpful non-thinkers. And their spaghetti alle vongole had no shells! I like clam shells in my alle vongole. It gives the dish a feeling of authenticity - and looks better, too.
MrO: Yes, well, getting back to Dolada, I thought the ice cream was excellent. Very, very freshly made and the praline flavour was quite fine, as was the coconut.
MrV: That white wine was alright, too. Panizzi Vernaccia is very rich, isn’t it? But pretty good value at £35. The mark-up on the wines is quite fair, even generous, in my view. They’re knocking out a 2004 Tignanello at £140, which is far less than double the retail value. Harrods, for instance, is selling it for £95. We should have tried it. I could happily have spent all afternoon there but you insisted on going back to work.
MrO: It is customary to work after lunch.
MrV: Not for me it isn’t.

Mr Oil and Mr Vinegar ate three courses each and together drank two vodka-and-tonics, a bottle of white wine, two glasses of Chianti, two glasses of limoncello liqueur and four cups of coffee, at a total cost of £158.

Dolada Restaurant
Arcade House
13 Albemarle Street
London
W1S 4HJ

+44 (0) 207 409 1011
manager@dolada.co.uk
www.dolada.co.uk