We review the new seafood restaurant making waves in Covent Garden
It’s always exciting to visit newly opened restaurants, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to try Osteria Del Mare just a few weeks after its opening. Osteria Del Mare is a seafood restaurant with its heart and soul rooted in Italy. This connection is evident as it comes from the same team that brought us Bocconcino’s upscale Italian restaurants that reside in Mayfair and Soho.
Osteria Del Mare makes a striking impression from the outside with its large frontage on The Strand, making it’s not easy to miss. However, it’s only when you step inside that you truly appreciate the restaurant’s impressive ambience. No expense has been spared on the decor, and although the restaurant can seat 86 people, the space is cleverly divided into sections to create an intimate atmosphere.
The interior features striking black and white marble floors that contrast with colourful hand-made wall tiles. The pizzeria kitchen is adorned with deep green shades and green onyx. Custom chandeliers made from rubber and hand-blown glass create a romantic mood, resembling jellyfish or octopuses, while modern plywood lighting from David Trubridge evokes fishing nets that add to the wow factor.
Let’s get to the important part: the food. At first glance at the menu, the Italian heritage is evident; even the titles of the various sections of the menu are Italian, which is comforting . As you would expect, seafood does dominate the menu but if you are not the biggest seafood lover there is a wide range of pasta and pizza’s to enjoy.
After much debate, we ordered Moscardini (baby octopus in tomato sauce) and tiger prawn tempura with lime mayo for starters. Cooking octopus, whether small or large, is never easy, as it needs to be soft and melt-in-your-mouth tender. The Moscardini we had was exactly that: incredibly soft and unctuous. The thick tomato sauce perfectly coated the octopus, making it a delightful starter.
The king prawns arrived butterflied and flattened—unfortunately, my picture didn’t do them justice. However, the batter coating consisted of part breadcrumb and part tempura, resulting in a light but textured finish. Combined with a big hit of lime in the mayo, we both relished this dish, I think this could be a signature starter dish in the making, if not already.
To select our main courses, we visited the impressive fish counter, which I always love seeing in a restaurant. There was a wide selection of fish available. After some deliberation, I chose the pan-fried red mullet, while my guest opted for the sea bass.
As for our main courses, my red mullet was served simply with a cherry tomato sauce. The sea bass came accompanied by olives, tomatoes, capers, and chips. A fish restaurant lives or dies by the quality of its ingredients; while I’m no fisherman, my visit to the fish counter confirmed that the seafood was incredibly fresh. The first taste confirmed that.
Both fish dishes were cooked perfectly. The sea bass was served with chips; however, a more accurate description would be super thin chips or overweight crisps; they were delicious. My red mullet arrived at the table beautifully presented.
There are many reasons why I love seafood restaurants, but an added bonus for me is you usually have room to squeeze in a dessert, and I’m so pleased we did. I decided on traditional with a Tiramisu; however, my guest only had her eyes on a hazelnut chocolate choux.
The chocolate choux was incredible. My guest described it as the best dessert she had tasted in a long time. I thought it looked like a traditional French Paris Brest but on steroids, which is a massive compliment, by the way.
It was so heavenly naughty, which is the perfect description. Dear reader, at this stage I have to be honest and say I desperately wanted to claim this description as my own, but a pang of guilt hit me as I was typing. Also, the fact that I’m likely to bump into the originator when I next visit the restaurant, so to come clean, it came from the General Manager, Serban Jakab. He recommended this superstar of a dessert. I’m not saying I won’t borrow this phrase in the future; I clearly will, but it will have to be a bloody good dessert to warrant it.
I feel guilty about not mentioning the Tiramisu until now, as it was lovely, but the Italian classic took the silver medal on this occasion.
Thanks to Serban and the team, who looked after us so well. After my first visit, I look forward to watching Osteria Del Mare evolve and grow in the coming years.
Finally, I should mention that Osteria Del Mare has a special lunch menu starting at £24 and also a theatre menu (Osteria Del Mare is on the edge of London’s theatre land) at £30. Check their website for full details.
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