Number Twelve

When does it ever seem a good idea to visit a hotel restaurant in London? If they're not stuffy, overpriced, patronising, soulless or embarrassingly empty, they're temples of haute cuisine that only seem appropriate on anniversaries, or to celebrate a big deal or payout.

Number Twelve, however, is more approachable. It's a new restaurant and bar at the Ambassadors Bloomsbury, which this year has been relaunched as a boutique-style business hotel. The restaurant has been decorated in similarly safe contemporary fashion: neat red chairs, silvery mesh blinds, dark wood, tall vases, etched glass. Linens and carpet keep it comfortable, though we felt the air conditioning was too cold and spotlights above the table made us feel like we were being grilled on 'Mastermind'.

Head chef Santino Busciglio won acclaim while working in the same post at Italian restaurant Rosmarino, a St John's Wood outfit that was then part of the A-Z Restaurant Group - which includes Zafferano and Alloro, where Busciglio has also worked. This is reflected in his hands-on approach to ingredients: the kitchen bakes its own bread and cures its own meats and fish.

While Italian influences run strongly through the menu, the effect is tempered by its showcasing of British ingredients including Orkney scallops, Donald Russell beef, Gressingham duck and Colston Bassett stilton. Pasta, although made on the premises, is not overplayed. A round of Welsh salt marsh lamb was served with a boiled artichoke, samphire, garlic sauce, and a potato cake studded with juicy fragments of meat. Roast Hereford Middle White pork belly came as a long, stylish baton accompanied by apple sauce, potato fondant and green beans. The cooking is better than competent, and modest portions provide a clue to the reasonable prices.

Much is made of 'the cheese table'. La Fromagerie supplies ten varieties, showcased on a separate menu detailing the provenance and production of each cheese, making it one of the best cheese lists in the capital.

In the pantheon of chocolate cakes, Number Twelve's rather bland Valrhona 64 per cent tortino doesn't rate a mention, but we enthused about the pure white, rosemary-scented ice-cream that came with it - one of many tempting ices made on site. Scottish raspberry trifle with peaches, vanilla-flecked custard and crushed amaretti, however, was a thoroughly satisfying pud.

Especially unusual for a hotel dining room is the fact that the wine prices are fair and options flexible: 175ml glasses from £3.50, bottles from £15.50, a choice of 11 wines by the 375ml carafe.

On our visit, both restaurant and bar were busy - and rather buzzy - all night, with not everyone resident at the hotel. In fact, Santino's personalised approach to the food at Number Twelve is such an antidote to the corporate hotel brasseries of the Euston Road, it's likely to draw customers from them, too.
Jenni Muir

Time Out Issue 1940: October 24-30 2007

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