Roberto Costa, the visionary founder of Macellaio RC, savours a classic Italian cocktail, embodying his commitment to excellence and passion for authentic culinary experiences. Cheers to Italian elegance!
by Storm Greenwood and Giulia Carla Rossi
Macellaio RC is Italian for butcher and the clue is in the name— this is the place you go for delicious cuts of perfectly grilled meat. Nested between the West End’s hottest bills, theatre is all around you at this Soho restaurant. From the theatre posters adorning the walls and the artfully arranged meat counter and central grill, to the circus of Soho unfolding outside the open doors, this would be a perfect pre-theatre dining spot.
The decor is theatre-themed mixed with a vintage Italian feel. The wood panelling throughout gave it a warm, welcoming vibe and the display cases of meat made it clear this was a place for carnivores. The menu was styled to look like an Italian newspaper, the vintage fonts and cutouts of old Italian adverts between the lists of available dishes.
The majority of staff were Italian and all of them were very welcoming. Our waitress was especially attentive. The manager told us towards the end of the meal that they were understaffed that day due to illness, which made sense as the staff seemed rushed off their feet and the wait times for some items were long. We were also brought the wrong order for one of our starters, but this was quickly rectified and our waitress worked hard to make sure we had everything we’d ordered.
Meat was the focus from the start of our meal, as we were served a complimentary lardo candle with small slices of sourdough to dip into the warm lard. For starters we ordered focaccia ligure with stracchino (a type of smooth Italian cheese) and Parma ham and a vitello tonnato, which is thinly sliced veal with tuna and capers. The vitello tonnato was delicious, marrying the zingy flavour of the onions and the capers against the surprisingly delightful mixture of the tuna and meat. The focaccia was tasty, although slightly direr than expected and almost sweet to the taste. They had a nice selection of Italian wines and classic cocktails such as Aperol Spritz and Negroni. As we were planning to eat meat, we both chose a glass of red wine. We sampled both the Nero d’Avola and the Sangiovese. The Sangiovese was perfectly adequate, while the Nero d’Avola was surprisingly light for a normally bold wine and lacked the richness we were expecting.
Unsurprisingly, the meat is where this restaurant excels. The striploin and fillet, both cooked to medium rare on our request, melt in your mouth. The fillet was unbelievably tender, while every bite of the striploin packed a flavourful punch. Both were oiled and salted to perfection. It was also a nice touch to be able to watch them being cooked on the grill in the centre of the restaurant. To accompany our steaks we ordered two sides: parmesan and truffle chips and a green salad. The green salad was an unremarkable gem lettuce, but the dressing was good and the warm parmesan and truffle chips were thin cut, ridged and crunchy – the love child of chips and crisps. The smell of the truffle oil wafted towards us as they were brought to the table and the parmesan, slightly warmed by the heat of the chips, added another dimension.
To finish the meal we elected to try the tiramisù and ice cream. The tiramisù was good and had a tasty mascarpone cream, although the sponge was a little dry and would have benefitted from a little more of a coffee soak. The ice cream was prepared on a cart next to the table, as the waitress added oil from Taggiasca olives and salt to the ice cream dish. The contrast between the sweet ice cream and the tangy olive oil was surprisingly delicious and the theatre of the service added a nice touch.
We had a good evening dining at Macellaio RC. The atmosphere is fun and there’s plenty of people watching to be done. The slightly lacklustre starters were saved by the delicious meat. If you’re a voracious carnivore like us, this is the perfect place for a steak.
