Zafferano is a restaurant in London, originally run by
Giorgio Locatelli
Giorgio Locatelli (born 6 April 1963) is an Italian Michelin starred chef and restaurateur working and living in the United Kingdom.
Early life
Locatelli was brought up in Corgeno in the comune of Vergiate on the banks of Lake Comabbio, northe ...
on behalf of A–Z Restaurants until 2005. The restaurant was awarded one
Michelin star
The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin stars for excellence to a select few restaurants in certain geographic ...
in 1999, which it held until 2012.
History
Zafferano was opened by Locatelli in February 1995 in
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...
, London.
Its name comes from the Italian for
saffron
Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of '' Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent ...
.
The location had previously been a
fish restaurant, but under Locatelli the new restaurant served
Italian food
Italian cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine David 1988, Introduction, pp. 101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes, and cooking techniques developed in Italy since Roman times, and later spread around the world together with waves of I ...
.
[ The major investor in the restaurant was Claudio Pulze, who owned the restaurant through his company A–Z Restaurants. Locatelli's pay was based on a percentage of the overall performance of the restaurant.][
The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in the list published in 1999. Locatelli was named the Outstanding London Chef of 2001 at the London Restaurant Awards, but shortly afterwards left the restaurant following disagreements with new head of A–Z Restaurants, Giuliano Lotto. Andrew Needham took over as head chef, having previously been Locatelli's ]sous chef
A sous-chef is a chef who is second in command of a kitchen, ranking directly below the head chef in the Kitchen Brigade system developed by Auguste Escoffier. In large kitchens, sous-chefs are typically left in charge of managing members o ...
.
After A–Z Restaurants went into administration in November 2004, Locatelli said that he was interested in purchasing Zafferano. The group, including Zafferano, was sold back to Claudio Pulze with a new partner, John De Stefano. In 2007, Pulze sold his share of the company to De Stefano. The restaurant expanded during the same year and opened a delicatessen
A delicatessen or deli is a grocery that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessens originated in Germany (contemporary spelling: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the mid-19th centur ...
.
Menu
The restaurant's menu is influenced by the previous restaurants at which Locatelli worked, including The Savoy Hotel
The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 188 ...
and at Olivo, where the menu was centred on Italian peasant foods
Peasant foods are dishes eaten by peasants, made from accessible and inexpensive ingredients.
In many historical periods, peasant foods have been stigmatized.
Common types
Meat-and-grain sausages or mushes
Ground meat or meat scraps mixed w ...
.[ It was initially launched with a series of set price menus, with the idea that the menus would be changed on a monthly basis, and the dishes avoid using butter as an ingredient. Only one dish in the original 1995 menu was served with butter — a dish of ]pappardelle
Pappardelle (; : pappardella; from the verb , meaning 'to gobble up') are large, very broad, flat pasta, similar to wide fettuccine, originating from the Tuscany region of Italy. The fresh types are two to three centimetres (–1 inches) w ...
pasta with chicken livers and sage #REDIRECT Sage {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
.balsamic vinegar
Balsamic vinegar () is a dark, concentrated, intensely flavoured vinegar made wholly or partially from Must, grape must: freshly crushed grape juice with all the skins, seeds, and stems.
Etymology
The Italian language, Italian word (from Lat ...
. The signature dessert is a tiramisu
Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made of ladyfinger pastries () dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, sugar, and mascarpone, and topped with cocoa powder. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of cakes and ...
served inside a tuile
A tuile () is a baked wafer, French in origin, generally arced in shape, that is made most often from dough (but also possibly from cheese), often served as an accompaniment of other dishes. ''Tuile'' is the French word for tile, after the shape ...
.
Although saffron fibres are woven into the covers of the bill cover, the process was too expensive to repeat for the covers of the menus.
Reception
Matthew Norman, writing for ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' in 2003, described it as "one of the best restaurants around", although he did criticise the attitude of its staff. In 2013, '' Time Out'' wrote that Zafferano "has some way to go to rediscover its glory days". It was awarded three AA Rosettes in 2009. In 2011, the restaurant was named 55th in the list of the top restaurants in the UK by ''The Good Food Guide
''The Good Food Guide'' is a guide to the best restaurants, pubs and cafés in Great Britain. It was first published in 1951.
In October 2021, Adam Hyman purchased ''The Good Food Guide'' for an undisclosed sum from Waitrose & Partners. The ''G ...
''.
References
External links
*
{{coord , 51, 29, 56.25, N, 0, 9, 27.75, W, type:landmark_scale:10000_region:GB, display=title
European restaurants in London
Michelin-starred restaurants in London
1995 establishments in England
Restaurants established in 1995
Knightsbridge
Italian restaurants in the United Kingdom