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Please note, this venue is now closed. Time Out editors, June 2018.
Designed by the late David Collins and typical of his style at its most majestic, Massimo’s decor mixes marble, leather and bronze as if to suggest HG Wells’s time machine landed amid Roman baths. The room is admittedly huge, but does that necessitate or simply magnify the opulence? Most of the customers on our lunchtime visit were moneyed tourists, possibly from the adjacent Corinthia Hotel. We tolerated the question whether we understood the raw scallops we ordered were actually raw ‘like sashimi’. Fortunately, they were delicious, sliced thinly and prettily dressed with chive and courgette flowers. The menu offers the likes of Herdwick lamb and Goosnargh chicken, but freshest seafood (there’s also an oyster bar) and, to certain extent, pasta are the key draws. Tagliolini with crab and chilli was exemplary, so too the breads that staff offered throughout the meal. The dessert list is classic yet persuasive; a dark chocolate faux cappuccino was delightful. Wine prices are on par with the location and decor – glasses start at £8.50 for just 125ml.