Pescatori

Pescatori, 11 Dover Street, London W1S 4LH. Phone: 0207 4932652.

Meal for two with drinks: £73.05 ($113.59)

Pescatori restaurant in Mayfair has put a lot of effort into their own particular brand of dining: fresh ingredients, Italian seafood and a smart-casual dress code. It's wood-paneled interior, decorated tables and well-dressed waiters speak of an old-school European type of sophistication which appeals to the upper class of London.
We were greeted by very quick, smart-seeming and slightly aloof waiters and waitresses. The restaurant stayed about half full throughout our meal and seemed a pretty convivial place- most of the groups of people we passed were amicably chatting bald businessmen in nice suits.
We ordered drinks, which came in the form of a Peroni beer in an almost invisibly thin glass (£3.95) and a lemonade (£2.95). The only minor complaint I would have about the service would be that our waitress asked if we wanted water on the table and, when we said yes, never brought it. I wouldn't have minded but why tease us like that?
For starters we had a plate of bread with olive oil and vinegar(£3.50) and four West Mersea oysters. Tasting these raw was a new experience for me. They were served on what looked like a literal silver plate (it was actually metal) on ice with a garnish of lemon pieces. Very fancy, yet at surprisingly reasonable £7 they were the second cheapest course.
The experience of eating an oyster was sort of a culinary roller coaster: they were cold, slippery, and tasted like the bottom of a rock pool. Gulping them down was an odd feeling yet strangely compelling: they all ended up eaten, anyway.
Our mains were both Char Grilled Tuna Steak, served with seared vegetables and potatoes with mint (£18.95 and £3.00). At nearly £20 apiece they were pretty expensive, even for achingly good, brick-thick slices of tuna which Pescatori serves. This was "rare" tuna steak- almost completely red in the middle and greyish-white and crumbly around the edges.
The fish was partly springy and unyielding in the middle, almost like sushi. The sourness of the tuna went really well with the slightly sweet green beans and minty potatoes- it was undeniably a taste explosion. Still, was it worth almost £20? I'd say if you have the money burning a hole in your pocket and a powerful desire for seafood, go for it. It's not for the half-hearted fish lovers though- as the name implies, Pescatori really rewards the dedicated pescaphile, probably with a long line of naval ancestors, a shed full of fishing rods and harpoons and flakes of salt constantly clinging to his skin.
For dessert, we had two Lattes (£2.40 each) which were, disappointingly, bordering on the lukewarm. We also had Cream of Tiramasu (£6.00), which was everything I'd come to expect from the restaurant in terms of the taste of their food at that point- a sort of decadent, creamy foretaste of coffee heaven.
I actually felt a bit guilty for eating it, since it tasted twice as good as ordinary tiramasu and was undoubtedly ten times as bad for you. It also cost more, but sometimes you have to spend money to get something this disgustingly nice.
Pescatori is obviously a good place for seafood lovers to pull in to shore, but is likely to be a bit expensive on the landlubbers who are happier with steak. So long as you know what you're getting though, you should be fine- and fish is in the name of the restaurant, after all.

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