It's been a while since our last visit to Tempo Restaurant and Bar Mayfair. We arrived minutes past noon and we were their first customers to serve. Great! We got to choose our table. And a nice table by the window it was. It's kind of fascinating to watch people passing by, especially few days before Christmas. Everybody seemed to be in a rush, struggling with bags of shopping in a pouring rain. Just to fulfill the thought of making others 'happy' for one particular day in the year. All that hassle, pressure and stress..
Anyways, let's get back to our favourite subject, food. Tempo has new menu this time and we were eager to try as many as possible. As starters we have decided to have Polipo - Warm octopus, saffron potato, olives and pesto and Bruschetta di Burrata - Mozzarella and sun-dried tomato accompanied by Sicilian Vermentino, perfectly chilled.
The warm polipo was delicious, melt in the mouth. The flavour between pesto, tomato, parsley, olives and saffron potato mingled with the octopus delicately and nothing was too overpowering. Perfect. The bruschetta was lovely too! Unlike the traditional one with garlic and basil, Tempo's style of bruschetta is more a light version. The mozzarella that they used was very milky and creamy topped with sweet sun-dried tomato and contrast with tanginess of balsamic vinegar. Nice!
Pasta Course. It's kind of a ritual of ours to have pasta course in between the starter and the main course since we were told that's the traditional Italian way of dining. Well, we can tell you we would not complain about that, apart from having to struggle to get off of the dining chair at the end :))
And that's why we like to dine at Tempo, as they provide the option to have the pasta course as a half or full portion, so we can spare some space for meat/fish course and of course the dessert. So, for the pasta course we chose, Ravioli Verdi - ricotta, sun-dried tomatoes and black olives and Tagliatelle with creamy wild mushroom, parsley and parmesan cheese. We could tell that both pastas were home made and fresh, though the tagliatelle was a bit heavy than we have anticipated but taste wise we have nothing to complain.
Moving to the main courses, we chose Ipploglosso - halibut served with savoy cabbage, puree of garden peas and diced panchetta topped with crunchy bacon and a dish out of the daily special, Pheasant served with polenta and spinach dressed in jus.
What could we say about both dishes?? 'Scrumptious' would be the answer! The halibut was well seasoned and moist, definitely cooked in perfection. The vegetables that came with it was well portioned, just enough to accompany and compliment the fish.
The pheasant was fresh and flavoursome, ideally matched with polenta and spinach. The jus finished the dish pleasantly, though, it was slightly too rich to our taste. But overall opinion from the starters to the point of main courses we were well pleased.
The only part that we were a little bit disappointed was the dessert. We chose the classic Italian dessert - Tiramisu. It presented nicely, looked very appetizing, mascarpone was very light and creamy but lacking the taste of coffee liqueur and replaced by chocolate sauce instead. We found it rather unusual.
Tempo Restaurant and Bar, to us, is still a pleasant place to dine. Friendly and accommodating staff, comfortable seats, nice ambiance, good food and good value for money. They change the menu regularly which add the attractions to the restaurant. Tempo also has private dining area upstairs, ideal for business lunch or dinner. We would gladly recommend Tempo Restaurant and Bar to our readers.
Tempo Restaurant and Bar
54 Curzon Street, London W1J 8PG
Phone: +44 20 7629 2742
Email: info@tempomayfair.co.uk
Website: http://www.tempomayfair.co.uk/#home