Stevie Parle to open fifth restaurant, Rome-inspired Palatino
The 70-seat Clerkenwell venue is set to offer all-day dishes seven days a week, inspired by ancient Roman recipes through to modern-day takes on Roman-Italian cuisine.
Palatino – named after one of the seven ancient hills of Rome – will centre on an open kitchen design, including a wood burning grill for meat, a stone oven for pizzas and vegetable dishes, as well as a fresh pasta machine.
The menu has been designed to allow guests to come as much for a plate of pasta and glass of wine, as for a traditional four-course Italian meal.
Divided into the categories of antipasti, primi, secondi and dolci, typical dishes will include fried sage and apple with honey; chicken and pistachio meatballs with polenta and squash; native lobster, chilli and fennel with fried potatoes; and for dessert chocolate tartufo, with cherry and whipped cream, which has been described as Parle’s “21st-century take on the ‘choc ice’”.
All pasta will be made in-house every day, with pasta dishes such as bombolotti ragu Palatino; bucatini Amatriciana; and maltagliati with red mullet and tomato.
Each of the restaurant’s 45 wines will be available by the glass, and will fall into one of three categories – the classic ‘tipico’, the more unusual biodynamic and natural ‘unico’, or rarer vintages in the ‘speziale’.
The site will also serve pizza bianco, sandwiches, salads, soups, and coffee throughout the day.
Design – aiming to give the site an easy day-to-night feel ‒ comes from the Here Design agency, with attention paid to atmosphere, lighting, and heritage, right down to the use of the Hermann Zapf Italian typeface.
Parle, whose career includes time spent at the River Café, said: “I’m incredibly excited to be opening this new neighbourhood Italian restaurant. For me, Rome is Italy’s culinary melting pot and I can’t wait to bring its myriad of flavours to Clerkenwell.”
Parle opened his first restaurant aged just 24, and most recently masterminded the creation of Craft London on the Greenwich Peninsula, which champions British produce and focuses on creating as many ingredients as possible in-house or on the restaurant's grounds - including smoked and cured meats and fish, fruits, herbs, preserves, and pickles.
