Amazonico
10 Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London W1J 6BR (020 7404 5000)
Rubbing shoulders with Mayfair scions Annabel’s and Sexy Fish, Amazonico is a cornucopia of a restaurant, stationed at 10 Berkeley Square and brimming with a glamorous Euro crowd. There’s plenty of sequins and Latin sass, as well you might expect from the new London outpost of that famous Madrid residence – the first Amazonico – beloved by footballers such as Ronaldo. The decor is rainforest chic. Ceilings are lush with lianas and ferns, there are peacock sculptures perching on bar counters, an aquarium as a backdrop to a Peruvian sushi bar, there’s a sea of patterned wallpaper and plush deep green and red velvet furnishings, a huge art installation of percolating bottles and a jazz band, which plays in one corner of this five-room, 13,000-square-foot restaurant. The maximalist splendour is the result of a £10 million investment. Run by husband and wife duo Sandro Silva and Marta Seco (the team behind a series of starry Spanish restaurants), part of the joy is in its energy and atmosphere. Yet the food elbows its way centre stage, via the open kitchen where a line of chefs are chopping, grilling, painstakingly assembling dishes. Out comes a mastery of Brazillian-Asian fusion, overseen by executive chef Vito Reyes. An array of seafood, from oysters to sea urchins, cured seabass, tuna poke, arrives, followed by juicy, perfectly salted steaks pimped with Chimichurri. To finish, the signature dessert is a rotisserie of pineapple which twists artfully on spits in one corner of the room, as though it too was an artwork. It’s gooey, sweet and caramelised – and paired with coconut ice-cream, it’s a slice of heaven.
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