New Mediterranean restaurant concept Cavo has opened its doors in Central London.
All things seafood, with a sprinkle of land, Cavo sits on the fourth floor in The Outernet at Tottenham Court Road. You might have passed by the immersive entertainment open plan rooms by now.
So that’s The Outernet, with its endless cleverly presented lighting installations, although that’s not all of it but we are here to talk about Cavo.
Cavo is a restaurant, a bar and an outside terrace with unrivalled views over recently revamped Tottenham Court Road district. The restaurant menu is overseen by Neapolitan raised Head Chef Alberto Gargiulo.
We went to review their Taste of Cavo menu, it’s designed for 2 people although the slightly small aspect of some dishes made us question this.
It’s priced at £70 per head for 8-course dine with two sides. We start with two amuse-bouches of Bigne ou Moules (spiced mussels in choux pastry) and Baccala (salted cod mousse, crispy sourdough).
The mussels feel a little bit like profiteroles, so we are not too convinced, although the shellfish inside is very fresh. We like the sourdough though, it seems to contain some rye too, the earthy rye notes go very well with the fish.
There is plenty of mousse on the crisp too. We also get six fine de claire oysters to share with three different sauces. The sauce portions are rather generous and I’m someone who eats oysters in their pure form, so I don’t really get to appreciate it leaving all of the sauces to my guest.
We then move onto our second part of the dine, Modern & Authentic consisting of truffle tagliolini, red snapper tartare, and champagne scallops with scallops being our favourite.
Sweet with slight nutty notes in a balanced and creamy sauce, they are made to perfection. It’s a flawless dish, but we are left wishing the dish was bigger.
The waiter then arrives to mix red snapper tartare for us. The little mandarin shaped dollop on top is citrus sorbet. It gives citrus notes (I want to say grapefruit) to the delicate fish. It’s a good dish, no argument there.
Our next preferred plate is probably the truffle tagliolini. It’s made al dente with just the right amount of creamy truffle sauce.
We finish them in no time because, as I say, they are quite small, before moving onto the Josper Grill & Oven section of Pluma Iberica and lobster tail. Both dishes are very well prepared, although the lobster tail is probably the smallest of all the dishes.
We even question if we were served a single portion by accident. We chat to the staff. The menu is designed to sample the best of Cavo as the name suggests and not fill up completely.
However, overall we did leave quite full, especially after we had the side of Greek Chips, which are freshly made slightly thicker cuts of crisps with herbal seasoning. They are crisp with slightly softer center. We end up fighting for them.
Second side is pan fried puntarelle, which belongs to the chicory family. It’s prepared long like spaghetti drizzled with plenty of oil. Although we do come across a few chewy bits, I am a fan. I think puntarelle is the ‘it’ vegetable of 2023. Last year it was charred hispi cabbage.
I enjoy puntarelle’s slightly bitter taste with a hint of fennel, whereas my plus one is far from being a fan but he’s a guy and they tend to prefer meat more anyway.
I also sample their signature Amalfi Gimlet, which is Malfi gin, Italicus, prosecco, lemon verbena and bitters lime. I love verbena in general and the berry shines well in this one. It’s presented with a show stopping bubble which when busted released smoke. If you’re visiting this is definitely the drink to have, but don’t have it on the terrace as the bubble might fly away.
Cavo is an interesting destination while it’s a little on the higher spending mark, suited more for a special occasion or date evening. Its stylish décor, high quality seafood and meat are worth checking out.
The Now Building, Outernet, Denmark St, London WC2H 0LA