Murano — Restaurant in London

As an Italian food lover this restaurant will always be a highlight of my dining calendar and after saturday’s visit there is no reason whatsoever to change that. The food is absolutely fabulous and matched by the best service and great wine. I can honestly say that I am already looking to when I can go back.

Now onto the day itself which started with a delightful welcome from manager Laura and the team. She then escorted us to our table along the far wall that gives you a great view of the whole restaurant. While having a nice catch up we were poured a complimentary glass of bubbles to start us off. We were then given the menus consisting of a Lunch Menu or the A la Carte where you had the choice to choose either 3 , 4 , 5 or 6 courses creating your own Tasting Menu. It was at this point that Laura gave us a surprise and amazing gesture from head chef Em who had said that she would be very happy to create a personal Tasting Menu for us both. Well how could we refuse so therefore gladly accepted.

Next it was to to meet sommelier Ali but on this occasion we made her life easy as we wanted to try the Angela Hartnett 2019 Toscana Bianco which I have to say was a fabulous pairing for a majority of the menu and also excellent value for money. This was followed by the usual fabulous selection of snacks consisting of croquettes , olives , breadsticks , charcuterie , rosemary focaccia & a sweetcorn panna cotta topped with popcorn & red amaranth.

Now we moved onto the menu itself which started with two amazing dishes. They were a Raw Orkney Sea Scallop with elderflower , gooseberry & radish. As well as the Vitello Tonnato with fennel & pickled capers. These were two absolute delights leaving us with great expectations for what was to follow. These were indeed followed by two excellent pasta dishes. The first was a Herb Raviolo with tenderstem broccoli , swiss chard & parmesan. The other was a Pomodoro Agnolotti with stracciatella & basil.

Our next courses were simply heaven. There was a big smile on my wife’s face as she was presented with the Hand Rolled Linguine with mussels , saffron & chilli. For myself there was equal delight as I enjoyed a fantastic rich and creamy Carnaroli Risotto with girolles & summer truffle. Now our palate needed to be lightened which brought us to the fish course. They were a Halibut , hispi cabbage , smoked eel & seaweed buerre blanc along with a Roasted Monkfish with romesco , courgette & piquillo peppers. These were two more fabulous dishes as we continued to enjoy a fantastic afternoon.

This led us to the main course and to a dish that I would absolutely love. It was a Heritage Tomato with burrata , tomato & a basil dashi that was not as light as the appearance would have you think as a mixture creaminess with refreshing tomato & basil made this dish one that I would highly recommend. My wife was given the supplemented Herdwick Lamb with goat’s curd , jersey royals & basil pesto that was by the look on her face was amazing. These dishes were paired beautifully with two delightful wines recommended by sommelier Ali. She chose a Candialle 2013 Chianti Classico and a fabulous 2019 Faustine rose.

Now it was time to finish with desserts and just like the rest of the menu these were absolutely delicious. My wife was presented with a Strawberry & Elderflower Mille Feuille and for myself a heavenly Raspberry & Chocolate Souffle that was just sublime and paired perfectly with a Recioto Della Valpolicella dessert wine.

We finished with coffee and petit fours to bring to an end a fantastic afternoon of Italian food which was matched by excellent service led by Laura & Alessandro and fabulous wine pairings from sommelier Ali. We then received a nice surprise as chef Em came over to our table for a chat. This gave us the chance to personally thank her and the team for the absolutely stunning dishes she had created. If you are a fan of Italian food & wine then I can’t recommend a visit to Murano highly enough and I’m definitely looking forward to...

I visited Murano for dinner around a week ago with 3 other guests. The restaurant itself is not very large, the decor was pleasant, nothing special to remark, except for the carpeting which i personally find unhygienic and old fashioned for a restaurant. I have frequented many Michelin starred restaurants and I have to say I was disappointed by this one for various reasons. In terms of the food, Murano purports to be a modern Italian, however I found their menu (quite small for an a la carte) to feature more dishes of a European background (their german style pork belly with sauerkraut, and english lamb). There were maybe one or 2 pasta dishes neither of which were specifically Italian or referencing Italian flavors. As i mentioned I found their spring menu to be small, and not offer enough choice at all for an a la carte diner. I did appreciate the initiative to offer produce that was well within season such as spring asparagus, however once again I do not find these to be Italian spring flavors. furthermore all our mains were served cold. I am aware that Michelin star restaurants over decorate and presentation is key, however if you are serving 3-4 main courses on your menu altogether, I expect them made to order in the least and therefore not served cold- at all. this is a separate issue that i found none of our dishes to be exceptional or remarkable for a Michelin star, or any restaurant charging those prices- and once again, not particularly Italian or Italian at all. In regards to the wine list for wines served by the glasses,they serve only Italian, despite the dishes being from all over Europe, and would probably be better paired with more option. You are not serving traditional Italian so why do you not offer more wine options by the glass? In regards to the service, it was alright overall, however when one of the members of party noted that her main course (turbot) came not only cold but also semi raw, the head waiter suggested that maybe they should make her a new one, then suggested that she should either keep her current dish or cook the fish slightly more, as it would take too long to prep a new one- this was absolutely unacceptable. She politely declined as she didn't want to eat alone, the rest of us had finished our mains, therefore you apologize and potentially offer a desert on the house- but in the least an apology.You receive Michelin stars based on food and service, and in such a situation you immediately take the dish, apologize, and get the team to prep her something. and if the customer isn't happy you offer something at the end of the meal or as a suggestive solution to the issue. She wasn't rude or claiming not to like the dish- her main was served raw- unacceptable and treated unacceptably. In london you have such a wide variety of options and michelins to try. I find this neither special for gastronomic or modern European, and most definitely not Italian- there was barely an Italian flavor to anything on the menu except the lemon tart and a burrata starter. I did enjoy my meal overall and the quality of produce was great- i just found that it is less of an Italian restaurant and more of Pan European restaurant. I also found for a Michelin restaurant I would expect better service and better option overall. You need to do...

It pains me to write this since I have genuine admiration for Angela Hartnett. I am afraid my experience was poor after a visit for my wife's birthday. The meal was overly rushed, we were on the first sitting at 7pm but the pace of the meal was ridiculous, which given the restaurant was half-full seemed a little unnecessary. A fantastic mix of bread, olive oil and ham was presented to us after the amuse-bouche was taken away. I wasn't even half way through a slice of lovely sourdough when our starters were presented. We asked the sommelier (who was very good) to pair wine with each course but the courses were going at such a speed - you couldn't drink fast enough. My burrata starter was overwhelming, far too much cheese to deal with. Everything had too much salt. The halibut was over-cooked to the point it might as well have been mashed and that was an additional £10, the asparagus with the dish was a joke, one and of it shredded could be used to floss your teeth, if you could actually get a knife through it. These were all things we could live with then the lamb (another £10 premium) came out, which literally would have needed a macerator to break it down, it was ridiculously chewy and ridiculously bitter. I rejected the dish and to their credit the 'chef' acknowledged the poor quality of lamb and offered me the Jacob's ladder as an alternative. I appreciated their offer but since my wife had nearly finished her meat course and I was losing faith I politely declined putting it down to just a bad dish on a bad day, these things happen. 5 mins later despite me declining the dish and my wife finishing her meat course, I was delivered Jacobs Ladder. When I said 'thank you, but I did say I didn't want it', they had said that regardless of that conversation they thought I should have it as a replacement (and in fairness on-the-house).

It was the last straw for myself and my wife, I said it wasn't necessary and I didn't want the dish but it appeared that my opinion didn't matter. We left, £311 lighter, just over an hour into the experience (three courses, 1 amuse-bouche and 1 serving of bread in just over an hour) and bitterly disappointed.

Over served, over seasoned, overly fast and very well below Michelin star quality. If I wanted fast food I would go to a chain restaurant, probably ingest less salt and have it cooked on-point - it just wouldn't be matched with great wine which the fine sommelier did, it was a shame we had to gulp it down rather than savour it. I appreciated their attempt to rectify a problem that was known to them, but if I say I don't want something - surely it is simple. Very sad day, and definitely the worst premium restaurant experience of my life, certainly not worth any...