Da Polpo

Once upon a time there was a widespread belief that 3 factors made all the difference for a successful foodservice operation: Location, Location, Location. Then came a man and rewrote this rule that had dominated the industry for many decades. His name was Russell Norman and he just added the fourth venue to his growing restaurant empire.

Norman made first a name for himself as Operations Director of Caprice Holdings, the FC Chelsea of the Restaurant industry, before leaving (during the recession) to go his own way. You won’t find fancy advertising of any of his venues in glossy magazines, nor discount vouchers online, yet his restaurants are packed on most days of the week and waiting times of over an hour on Saturday evenings are the norm.   

Judging by the outside of the venues, you are forgiven to mistake them for shabby Tourist trap holes. It won’t be love on first site, but don’t be mistaken.

Norman belongs to a new generation of Twitteraties and no other London based foodservice operator has been credited with successfully harnessing the power of the web to the extend he does. The man has currently over 5000 followers on Twitter with a steady increasing number joining day by day. Just 5000 followers don’t sound much if you can reach over 100,000 with conventional marketing initiatives. However, unlike the ‘spray and pray’ approach of traditional methods, these 5000 are loyal and repeat customers spreading the message to another 5000, which in addition will spread the message to another 5000 and so on. You can do the maths.

Polpo, his first venue, opened in October 2009, in what can hardly be described as a high footfall location, in Soho. Yet, Polpo became an instant success. Polpetto followed in August 2010 and found a home on the second floor of a Pub located close by. A location most operators would walk away from. Yet, Norman’s second venue also became a household name in Soho and beyond. Spuntino opened in March 2011, with caused no less furore than its sister restaurants. Da Polpo, his latest venue, opened this month close to Convent Garden Market and was reported in most mainstream publications.

But there is more to his success than the smart use of Twitter. Norman developed a distinctive style aimed at a particular group of likeminded customers. Twitter was merely a tool to selectively reach his audience, which pilgrim to his venues from near and far away.

Enter his latest venue ‘Da Polpo’ and you will understand what I mean with distinctive style. Exposed brick work and reclaimed furniture is hardly innovative any more, but the Norman's style is simply distinctive. I was already hardened up from other visits to Polpetto and Spuntino and went with an open mind and an empty stomach. 

So what can you expect? Lets start with the staff. Many of them look like the kind of Punks who pester you for a quid on the street on your way home. But again, don’t be mistaken. Our ‘Punk’ was a little wine connoisseur and provided us with a taster of a bottle of Custoza 2009, which she described as ‘cracking’ and cracking it was, so we had the whole bottle (£26.50). Menu descriptions were short and left a lot of room for imagination, but our ‘Punk’ was also a little Gourmet and navigated us with bravura through the menu.

The menu was broken down in sections such as Cicheti, Pizzette, and less intimidating sections such as Meatballs, Mains and Desserts. Cicheti turn out to be bite-sized snacks, which are traditionally found in Venetian wine bars. We sampled ‘Arancini’ (£2.50), which were deep-fried Risotto balls with Mozarella, and Potato & Parmesan Crocchetta (£1.50) to start with. Subtle in flavour and nicely seasoned, the type of snack I could probably never get bored off. The Fritto Misto (£8.00) arrived shortly after and was a mix of squid, anchovies and prawns deep-fried in a heavenly thin and crispy batter. Our first Pizzette to arrive was topped with Spinach and a raw egg yolk on the top (£5.50). A simple combination and the silky egg yolk gave a very nice texture to the dish. However, the second Pizzette (£6.00) to arrive was more to my liking. A thin and crusty base topped with slices of grilled Mortadella, smelly Gorgonzola cheese and pickled radicchio to balance the richness of the dish. Meatballs, or Polpette in Italian, were honoured with its own section on the menu. We sampled two varieties, classic beef & pork and a vegetarian variety made of Chickpeas, spinach and ricotta. Both varieties of Polpette were big, fat and juicy and arrived covered in a tangy tomato sauce. The Calf’s liver (£7.00) and grilled sirloin (£8.50) were mouth watering tender. The grilled asparagus with soft scrambled egg and Parmesan (£7.50) rounded up our selection of savoury dishes.

We decided to fill the little bit of space we had left in our stomach with something sweet. We had a boring choice of Tiramisu, but thought it would be a good dish to benchmark against the other hundreds of Tiramisu’s we had in our lives. The dessert was served in the same type of glass used for wine (very resourceful) and had a bold coffee flavour. We went adventurous with the ‘Nutella’ Pizzette, which was, as the name indicated, covered with Nutella. I have been told afterwards (by Italians of course) that this is in fact a common dish that can be found in restaurants and cafes throughout Italy. Italians are known for being obsessed with Pizza and Nutella. It appears a logical evolutionary step to combine the two. Affogato al caffe (£2.50), the third choice was again a ‘classic’ Italian Coffee Culture dish made of a shot of hot espresso poured over a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream. The perfect caffeine loaded finish needed after a marathon of food (what a tough job I have).

As expected, Norman’s newest addition under-promised and over-delivered. At the end we left £35 a head for the 3 of us including wine and service charge. However, if you manage to restrain yourself, whom I am having difficulties with at times, you would get away with less.

Buon appetito.   

Grown up was promised and Grown up it was

I was reading the following line in an article this Saturday within an industry publication: “Giraffe to launch a new restaurant in Soho”. Hardly ‘surprising’ news they opening another unit, because this is what Restaurant chains do all the time. Hardly ‘exiting’ news either as Giraffe is not only well established in London, but also starting to become a household name all over the UK. However, then came the bit when it started to become interesting: The Bar & Grill Restaurant in Frith Street was “designed to appeal more to the late-night market”.  

That was quite a U-turn for a family friendly concept. More and more branded operators appear to start to design different concept formats according to a specific market they operate, rather than expanding with the ‘one size fits all’ approach. We are seeing them doing little design tweaks, but the product remains usually pretty much the same. However, a family friendly concept targeting a late-night market wouldn’t get away that easily. My first question was how a family friendly concept intended to appeal to a more late night market? The next line grabbed my attention. “The company, which has traditionally been associated with family-friendly venues, said this was the latest grown-up addition to its estate.” But the next bit was when I really started to get excited. The menu had been apparently expanded and tailored to a more adult market.  Adobo marinated sirloin steaks, West Devon lamb rumps and beef short ribs would make a feature on the menu thanks to a fancy Japanese ‘Robata’ Grill in the kitchen. Hardly ‘innovative’, but when used properly these devices turn out gorgeous slabs of meat. 

Giraffe’s 44^th addition to the chain and 1^st Bar & Grill concept was due to open today!!!!  Would it be worthwhile to try to book a table on the opening day? I rang them up and luckily my wife and I got squeezed in at 11 at night. Not my usual dinner time, but curiosity got the better of me. Located close to my two Soho favourites, Mooli’s and Barrafina, the place was relatively easy to find. Garnished with a sleek black signage and an open frontage, this 175 covers monster is very much the alpha male in its territory.

A grown up concept was promised and grown up it was. The restaurant was designed by the company’s founder Russel Joffe himself, with a helping hand from architects Wells Mackereth, the magicians behind the iconic Smiths of Smithfield.

Raw concrete, galvanized steel and London Underground style tiling provided an appropriate setting and the absence of screaming toddlers promised the start of a good evening. The menu is small and featured many Giraffe classics; such as the Thai Duck stir-fry. However, this place also boosts a reasonable 36 bins wine list, an interesting cocktail list and a small (but fine) Meat section. You will find the usual Rib, Sirloin and Rump steaks. Vegetarian or lighter options are also available if you not into red meat. 

Mr Joffe has decided to stick to its tested and approved formula of relaxed and informal service. Our waitress Gosia, occasionally sat with us on the table whilst advising on the menu and another fella put his hands on my shoulder whilst explaining the cocktail list. Under different circumstances I wouldn’t be particularly amused, but in this scenery it just fit. Although an army of staff was hushing through the Restaurant, thankfully we were looked after the whole evening by the same two faces and what a marvellous job they did. 

As much as I like the food in Giraffe, the ‘too global food for my taste’ menu inevitably cause in me a more acute state of indecisiveness as the current Greek Government is in. Gosia happily provided us with recommendations and we eventually ended up ordering way more than we intended. Instead of my usual beer-steak combo I was seduced by Gosia to try a ‘Soho Bourbon Blues’ (£5.95) and my wife tried an alcohol free ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’ (3.65). For main course we decided on a 400 g!! Rib Eye Steak (£18.95) to share with a side of Mac & Cheese (£3.95) and salad (£2.25). A subtle and indicative suggestion was made for an appetizer whilst waiting for our main course and a mouth-watering description on some of the option was provided. Unable to decline we ended up with a Sonny Boy (£6.50); a flatbread topped with spicy chipotle shrimps, grilled pineapple, Feta cheese and roasted peppers. Exactly the kind of weird mixture I am not keen of trying, but eventually glad I did. 

Our massive chunk of beef arrived shortly after and was heavenly juice.  Our empty plates were swiftly cleared and Gosia returned shortly after again with a big smile and dessert menus.  Our stomachs were full, but our will was weak and so we decided to finish our evening with a grilled pineapple with coconut ice cream. We loved the 1970’s presentation and it was the nice finish for a great meal. Hot and slightly charred pineapple with creamy and cooling coconut ice-cream topped with toasted coconut.  Our bill was less than £60 for two, which was excellent value considering the Central London location, quality produce and great service. This place ticks all the right boxes to become a winner and one to watch out for.