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Santini; L'Incontro IssN
WHEN I read Gino Santin's La Cucina. Veneziana the other week I felt that if I didn't manage to get to Venice I certainly would have to make it to one or both of his restaurants in London as soon as possible. Santini, his flagship, which he opened in 1984, is enormously successful. Clientele look like second-rate crooks or similarly dressed spivs, men in grey suits and blue shirts straining at the waist and women with hairstyles too big for them and swathed in that sort of silk that looks as if it has got stretch marks.
The food is a different matter altogether. We're in the wild mushroom season now, so start with some, either with tagliatelle or polenta, the semolina-like pottage made of corn meal, which is a staple of Venetian cooking. Polenta is an acquired taste, but it's worth trying, as it offsets so well the fragrant boskiness of these mushrooms, which taste almost animal.
The pasta made here is slippery-soft, light and eggy. Life can never look the same again after a plate of pappardelle Santini — wide, roughly cut strips of pasta with artichoke sauce, with the eau-de-nil of the cooked, puréed, cream-mashed artichoke flecked by the darker green of the parsley, its strong, smoky, subtle fla- vour spiked with garlic, parmesan and breadcrumbs.
Carpaccio — the simple dish of pro- sciutto-thin slices of raw fillet steak was invented by a chef at the Cipriani and so does have a claim to being Venetian. It is called Carpaccio (after the Venetian painter) because the particular red of those slivers of raw meat are exactly the colour used so often in his paintings. At Santini the characteristic red turns a little browner (perhaps he should rename his Tiziano) since it is not served completely raw, but sprinkled with salt, pepper, olive oil and rocket (the salad leaf which is used quite often in Italy and has recently ousted radicchio as the most fashionable of the designer lettuces) and quickly put under the grill. The result is sensational. For less adventurous eaters, the salmon in fennel sauce is instant comfort.
Just as in Italy, the puddings are the weakest part of the meal, except for the Veneto's glorious contribution to culinary civilisation and cholesterol-warfare in- vented by Alfredo Beltrame of El Toula in Treviso, tiramisu, which translates literally as 'pick-me-up' — a not-so-reviving mix- ture of egg yolks, sugar, mascarpone, liqueur, sponge fingers, black coffee and cocoa-powder. But you don't really need to order pudding since portions are large and the galani, the deep-fried, batter cake- biscuits that come with coffee, are better than anything else.
The wine list is expensive, and unless you are prepared to hit the £20 mark you should stick to the house wine at £8.80. Despite the fact that I ate some of the best Italian food I've had in this country at Santini, I just cannot urge anyone to go. Prices are lunacy (£8-plus for a bowl of pasta is not on) and I didn't find the atmosphere simpatico.
The same is true of Gino Santin's new restaurant L'Incontro. Here the ambiente is different: white walls, Venetian blinds, black and white prints and smoked glass lights. Clientele are Eurochic: men with cashmere blazers, large-framed glasses, grizzled hair and tans, women highly- scented, expensively dressed, coiffed and manicured and oozing richness.
As in Santini the food is out of this world (as are the prices). Here I tried the Incontro di pasta, a selection of their pasta dishes — tagliatelle with rocket (when cooked it tastes rather like chard, only more peppery and less bitter), tagliatelle with crab, gnocchi with tomatoes and basil and stuffed pasta parcels with wild mushrooms: this provides the most plea- sure you can get from one plate.
Fish is the thing here. I had the seppie con nero, cuttlefish cooked in its own ink, which comes with polenta. Again, the polenta is just the right thing to absorb the strong, saline flavour of the winy, ink- blackened fish. Puddings are the same as at Santini. A strong soave with a bit of edge to it is £11.50, and you can devour the galani with your coffee here as well. If you don't like a piano playing while you eat, ask to sit upstairs.
It's difficult to recommend restaurants where the food alone is superlative. Since two of you will not be able to leave the place without paying around £75, I'd get the book instead.
Santini: 29 Ebury Street, London SWI ; 01-730 4094. L'Incontro: 87 Pimlico Road; 01-730 6327.
Nigella Lawson
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