Mele e Pere

Independent Trattoria and Vermouth Bar in Soho. Seasonal Italian cooking. Homemade bread, pasta, ice cream and Vermouth.

http://www.meleepere.co.uk

Mele e Pere, 46 Brewer Street, London W1 | The Independent

Perhaps the cold has iced up my brain, as it takes me a while to realise the brightly lit corner building with a window full of glass apples and pears, and just the tip of a staircase showing, is the restaurant, a spanking-new Italian (mele e pere, duh).

Then pastas: linguine with Sicilian gambero, tagiatelle with beef-cheek ragu, an artichoke risotto; main courses include calves' liver alla Veneziana, bistecca alla Fiorentina, and grilled plaice.

Next time I'm in Soho I will make a point of coming back to Mele e Pere just for a bowl of carbonara and a scoop of ice-cream.

Scores: 1-3 stay home and cook, 4 needs help, 5 does the job, 6 flashes of promise, 7 good, 8 special, can't wait to go back, 9-10 as good as it gets Mele e Pere 46 Brewer Street, London W1, tel: 020 7096 2096 Lunch and dinner, Mon-Sat.

A gorgeous deli, with restaurant attached whose brilliant (if limited) menu includes delicious antipasti and pasta (plus scrumptious wines imported direct from Italy) A true Italian family welcome and excellent cuisine; Giancarlo Caldesi's two-year-old Tuscan is a destination with which no one finds any real fault

mele e pere, soho - review • The Cutlery Chronicles

‘Italian’ food, as many people know it – by which I mean a bunch of stock pasta and pizza options – is so often the default offering chosen by restaurants, as dishes are deceptively simple and hot carbs with cheese will always please the masses.

So thank goodness for the very good places in town that do truly represent the variety and quality of Italian food – the likes of Bocca di Lupo, Zucca, Locanda Locatelli and now also, Mele e Pere.

A third plate – quenelles of chicken liver parfait with wine-poached pear, little mushrooms, Italian leaf and a bright yellow pansy – was something I wanted to photograph as much as eat.

Mele e Pere has daily changing menus: lunch specials at £8.50, pre-theatre set menus of three courses with a glass of prosecco for £18 (both with entirely different dishes to the a la carte), the option of small or large portions for pasta, substantial mains and a bar specialising in vermouth.

Liked lots: gnocchi, focaccia, aubergine parmigiana, mackerel tartare, location, prices, creativity Liked less: the main dining area being without natural light Good for: frequently changing menus, frequent visits, all occasions, quality food at affordable prices, vermouth (so I hear – must return to try some) Note: I was kindly treated to this meal by the restaurant thanks to their relationship with my companion.

Mele e Pere review – chic Italian comes to Brewer Street | The Picky ...

The latter, combined with the decadent use of the ground floor, suggests that the actual kitchen may be quite small and can only make a small number of plates at any one time – whether the management will be tempted to cram in more tables once Mele e Pere exits its soft launch period remains to be seen.

I had dinner at Mele e Pere with the help of the Euro Hedgie during the soft launch period and our meal started out very promisingly.

The Hedgie was so disappointed with his fish main that he was tempted to skip dessert entirely, despite the presence of some enticing dessert cocktails on the dessert menu.

Although he enjoyed the honey ice cream, comparing it favourably to the signature version at Wild Honey, he was scathing about the apple cake likening it to a Sainsbury’s ‘Taste The Difference’ dessert in terms of quality.

At the risk of being reductionist, Mele e Pere’s version is like a cross between a trifle and a tiramisu with alternate layers of chocolate, blood orange jelly and a cold, dense milky cream.

Mele e Pere restaurant review 2012 February London | Italian ...

The entrance at street level has an attractive display of Murano glass apples and pears (“Mele e Pere" means apples and pears).

The wine list had around 70 bottles ranging in price from £16.50 to £179, with an average price of £39.

Bread is partly made in house and partly bought-in.

Rabbit dries out easily, but this was a well-made dish, again with good seasoning (14/20).

The bill came to £75 a head, for three courses and coffee, with a modest wine and pre-dinner drinks.

Mele e Pere, 46 Brewer Street, London W1 | The Independent

Perhaps the cold has iced up my brain, as it takes me a while to realise the brightly lit corner building with a window full of glass apples and pears, and just the tip of a staircase showing, is the restaurant, a spanking-new Italian (mele e pere, duh).

Then pastas: linguine with Sicilian gambero, tagiatelle with beef-cheek ragu, an artichoke risotto; main courses include calves' liver alla Veneziana, bistecca alla Fiorentina, and grilled plaice.

Next time I'm in Soho I will make a point of coming back to Mele e Pere just for a bowl of carbonara and a scoop of ice-cream.

Scores: 1-3 stay home and cook, 4 needs help, 5 does the job, 6 flashes of promise, 7 good, 8 special, can't wait to go back, 9-10 as good as it gets Mele e Pere 46 Brewer Street, London W1, tel: 020 7096 2096 Lunch and dinner, Mon-Sat.

A gorgeous deli, with restaurant attached whose brilliant (if limited) menu includes delicious antipasti and pasta (plus scrumptious wines imported direct from Italy) A true Italian family welcome and excellent cuisine; Giancarlo Caldesi's two-year-old Tuscan is a destination with which no one finds any real fault

Mele e Pere - review | London Evening Standard

ES Food Newsletter Apples and pears is cockney rhyming slang for stairs.

Mele e Pere (apples and pears), another restaurant newcomer to Soho, is in a basement down a prettily tiled flight of stairs.

Mantovani's northern Italian cooking embraces ingredients such as tripe, razor clams and rabbit that lift the heart (mine anyway) but so studenty are the bare tables and crap art in the vasty deep of the downstairs and so long the waits for food that their impact is severely diluted.

Dishes we tried - the aforementioned plus snails with pecorino, spaghetti alla carbonara (oily), char-grilled lamb shoulder and an "Italian young leaf salad" featuring grated carrots and baby tomato with Little Gem - were serviceable but not joyful.

The wine list divided by cutesy titles: "The Obvious to the Obscure; Gems from all Over the Boot", climbs too quickly upwards of £35.

Restaurant review: Mele e Pere | Life and style | The Guardian

Meal for two, including wine and service, £120 Mele e Pere means "apples and pears" and, unwittingly, the name is apt, for there is a certain mood about the place.

There are a growing number of places like Arbutus turning up now, but when it arrived in 2006 (later to be joined by sister restaurants Wild Honey and Les Deux Salon) it was a low-key revelation: really good, classy food, with no stupid service flummery, lots of wines by the glass and half carafe and a bill that doesn't make you feel like you're paying off the national debt of a bankrupt Balkan nation.

The ground-floor, over-lit reception with its huge displays of glass apples and pears lends a little too much formality to the whole experience.

Another dish of rabbit with carrots and black olives had a great big depth of flavour, but was also, as bunny can be, dry in places.

With a couple of pear bellinis and a £28 bottle of bog-standard Chianti we were staring at a £135 bill, which is a lot of money for a meal that does not leave you patting your tummy contentedly and giving thanks to the gods of Italian cooking.

Mele e Pere | Restaurants in Soho, London