By Majella Taylor: Spring menu has sprung at Magenta.
Where Bloomsbury meets King’s Cross, Magenta is a striking restaurant and bar for many reasons, but especially for its contemporary northern Italian cuisine from Executive Chef Manuele Bazzoni, and also for its bold interior from noted designer Henry Chebaane.
Open for lunches, as well as dinner, the spring menus are available from Tuesday-Saturday. Menu options include an à la carte and a six-course tasting menu (£85, including snacks and petit fours, and an optional wine pairing of +£60). An addition, very short set lunch will be launched later in the spring. Highlights of the new à la carte menu include:
Antipasti
- Cured seabass, watercress emulsion, orange and pickled mustard
- Aged beef tartare, smoked yolk, pickled shimeji mushroom, and Oscietra caviar
- Heritage beetroot cannolo, vegan feta, toasted walnuts and nashi pear
Primi
- Wild garlic risotto, morel mushrooms, fresh peas and broad beans
- Braised rabbit barchette, marigold, burnt onion and spiced jus
- Salted cod ‘mantecato’ and scamorza fagottini, black olives and Datterini tomotoes
Secondi
- Skate wing cooked in langoustine butter, langoustine tartare and English asparagus
- Roasted duck breast glazed with peppercorn and lavender, rhubarb and three corner garlic
- Salt-baked celeriac, vanilla, black garlic and truffle sauce
Dolci
- Coconut yogurt and mango mousse with lime and mint sorbet
- Amalfi lemon and yuzu tart, charcoal meringue and olive oil gel
- Maldon sea salt and caramel ganache with Piedmont hazelnut and banana ice cream
- Selection of Italian ‘ubriaco’ cheese, seeded cracker, hazelnut and fig bread
The all-Italian wine list devised by Sommelier Adriana Valentini features some real gems, ranging from £37 bottle. There are 30 options by the glass (from £7), and 26 wines by the 500ml carafe from £28. There is also a range of deliciously creative Signature Cocktails with Italian influences (all £12).
The modernist interior is dramatic and colourful with magenta highlights, banquette seating, impressive high ceilings with reflective silver leaf wallpaper, exposed pipework, large windows, vintage oak flooring and wall panelling, and a zinc-topped central bar. There is also an adjacent terrace area for up to 14, and the striking Mauve private dining room for up to a dozen guests).
23 Euston Road, London NW1 2SD
Reservations – 020-3146 0222
Opening hours Tuesday-Saturday Noon-3pm, 5.30pm-9.30pm
