Riviera is the latest venture by brother Arian and Alberto Zandi, the duo behind flamboyant restaurants Como Garden and Zuaya, both in west London, and El Norte in Mayfair, which is also no wallflower of a venue.
With Italian and Latin American cuisines and Spanish tapas ticked off, the brothers continue their culinary tour with Riviera, an airy restaurant inspired by the French Rivera.
The restaurant is in a great location, perched a few stories up on St James’s Street in Mayfair, with views of London streaming in from several sides through floor to ceiling windows and reflected on a large, wall-length mirror.
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The venue’s bar is located on ground level and is a good spot for a pre-dinner drink before you step into the elevator that zips you up to the dining room.
While no less put together than its sibling venues, Riviera’s interiors are less maximalist than the tree-centric interiors of Como Garden or Zuaya’s glamourous jungle.
In fact, Riviera has quite a calm style, filled with soft textured beige and creams embellished with warm, golden touches as well as a very handsome bar holding court in the dining room.
I wasn’t drinking on the night I tried the restaurant out, so decided to treat myself to a pre-dinner mocktail. The two signature alcohol-free cocktails on the menu come with white chocolate foam and made from a medley of juices. With names like Virgin Sexy Popcorn, these tipples were for the hardcore sweet-tooths among us, however the waiter fixed me a virgin mojito off menu which was refreshing and crisp. I also had a swill of my friend’s Chablis and it was delicious.
Dishes can be ordered as a starter and a main or shared, and as the mains are meat and fish heavy, if you want more vegetarian options on your table, this is the way to go about it.
For starters, my friend and I hoed into a breadbasket - two in fact, the salty whipped butter luring us in for another round – and a ball of quivering, creamy burrata served with gently roasted plum tomatoes that turned into a pleasing mess once the cheese’s innards muddled into the toms.
We also had a serve of the truffle and cheese stuffed courgette flower in tempura, which was a highlight for me. Its thick, musty cheese sauce would have been equally at home in a hefty mac n cheese but was lifted by the meaty spring-time flower.
Snails came sitting in individual puddles of garlicky butter – a simple combination that rarely goes wrong - and these were best eaten hot, plucked straight from their dish and popped into the awaiting maw. Tuna tartare arrived moist, fleshy and fresh, with a few sprigs of greenery for decoration.
We shared a plate of sole a la Meuniere for the main course, with a bowl of sautéed French beans, well-oiled and lightly treated, and a simple tomato and onion green salad as sides.
The fish came grilled and doused in a lemony, buttery, caper-heavy brine that was too good not to mop up with bread once the fish had been polished off.
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The meal finished on a creamy crème brûlée large enough to satisfy two which came with shortbread biscuits laid on top of the custard’s thin shell.
It may not feel quite like spring in London just yet, but at Riviera, it’s a Mediterranean French summer all year round.
Address: 23 St James's St, St. James's, SW1A 1HA
Website: riviera-london.co.uk
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