When The Ned, a hotel and dining destination which is a short stroll from Bank tube station, opened in 2017 elegant Italian Cecconi’s was the only restaurant brand to take up residence there which already had a presence in the capital.
Cecconi’s is owned by the wildly popular Soho House Group, who are also the team behind The Ned. The high-end Italian not only has a handful of sites in London, including in Mayfair and Shoreditch, but also boasts outposts in other glamorous locations such as Miami Beach, West Hollywood, Barcelona and Istanbul.
Cecconi’s City of London is found on the ground floor of The Ned, among the hotel’s conclave of restaurants. The dining room follows the same 1930s aesthetic as the rest of the hotel, featuring cosy banquette seating, art-deco light fixtures and stunning verdite columns dotted around the space. It is also clear that this is one of the higher-end offerings at The Ned, evidenced by white tablecloths and staff donning blazers and waistcoats who demonstrate an impressive knowledge of the menu.
Speaking of the menu, it is an all-day affair, which encompasses breakfast, lunch, brunch and dinner. The a la carte follows the traditional four-course Italian format and is a celebration of comfort food, often given luxe updates. You can begin with cicchetti such as black cabbage arancini, before moving on to starters proper such as calamari fritti served with a lemon aioli.
From the pasta dishes, guests can tuck into the likes of crab ravioli and a decadent lobster linguine, while your main might see sea bass with lentils and green sauce or veal Milanese pepped up with lemon salt and sage.
You can round things off with classic Italian desserts such as tiramisu, while Cecconi’s comprehensive list of mostly European wines is also worth exploring.