Twist

Ordering dishes was simpler in the old days. Proper menus had starters, main courses, then desserts. Only children, the infirm and johnny foreigner ate small portions. But now, every restaurant in London has a ‘small plates’ menu. Urban sophisticates no longer go out for a slap-up three-course meal; they head to filament-bulb-lit hangouts to graze as they text, tweet and take selfies. How did this happen?

As the British of the pallid hinterlands supersize themselves with ready-meals eaten in front of ‘MasterChef’, Londoners are going to the other extreme, nibbling and foraging and table-hopping like rabid bunnies. 

The small plates menu is, however, nothing new. The Spanish call it tapas; the Turks call it mezze; we all call it yummy. It’s not often you see an Italian chef embrace small portions, but that’s exactly what Neapolitan Eduardo Tuccillo has done at this charming little Marylebone restaurant. Rather than stick to southern-Italian dishes, he’s mixed it up a bit with Spanish and other Mediterranean influences.

The freshly-made pasta was perfect – firm and unevenly shaped fettuccine perfectly slathered with a creamy mushroom sauce heady with truffle. Seafood is a strength, with fat and juicy prawns cooked the Spanish way, a la plancha, with chilli and garlic, then served on a purée of jerusalem artichoke – an inspired combination. Squid was char-grilled but still pert, a dash of its ink painted on the plate. There are also Spanish and Italian cheeses and charcuterie to choose from, but with a kitchen that’s clearly packing a lot of talent, we suggest sticking to the cooked dishes – our risotto, stirred with Cacio Magno ewe’s cheese and a dash of Amalfi lemon juice, was faultless and didn’t really need its extra topping of wafer-thin slices of raw beef.

Top-flight ingredients are in clear evidence throughout, such as in a dense chocolate tart, flavoured with fleur de sel. Dishes are on-trend without being too silly; pannacotta was served in a Kilner jar, but that’s as pretentious as it  gets (and, for the record, we saw no diners posing for selfies). Because Twist is really a stylish and grown-up neighbourhood restaurant that just happens to have an honest commitment to quality cooking. This is backed up by service that was unfailingly attentive and smiling without being uptight, and a wine list diverse enough to cater for most tastes and budgets, with a particularly appealing by-the-glass selection. What’s more, although small plates usually require small appetites to limit the bill, you can eat very well here on three dishes each. That’s a twist we can shout about.