By Neil Sowerby
IT’S rare to see Aldo Zilli frown. The telegenic chef for hire, resident magus of the San Carlo group, radiates bonhomie. Cicchetti is among the most radiant dining spaces around, but he adds an extra helping of sunshine whenever he comes up to tweak the menus. He works the room in the nicest possible way.
This time he’s testing out a spring/summer menu and fillet of beef with pancetta, porcini and wild fennel (pictured above). With its autumnal browns, it's bucking the season. It’s a dish I love, with hints of the forest, but I know where he’s coming from in his insistence on seasonality.
His mood, our mood, is swiftly lightened by the other dishes, definitely more vernal in feel, which roam the Italian regions as is the wont of the Cicchetti menu, despite the fact that the brand name is based on the word Venetians use for their small tapas-like dishes.
Baccala is certainly a dish rooted in Venice – a light salt cod pate you scoop up with even lighter chickpea fritters (£6.95). Salt cod divides diners, but it is hard to see anyone not falling for the fresh-tasting summer bruschetta with broad beans, mint, parmesan and ricotta (£3.95).
Wild fennel is with us again for the tangle of strozzapreti (in Italian this pasta shape means ‘priest strangler’ with asparagus, peas, toasted pine nuts and mascarpone (£7.45). Another spring hit.
Cicchetti (San Carlo, too) are good with fish. Sea bream grilled with artichokes (£9.70) and, especially, lemon sole with asparagus and baby clams (£9.95) are a delight. Aldo by now is posing for Zilli selfies with the customers and summer doesn’t seem so far away.
Cicchetti Manchester, House of Fraser Ground Floor, (private entrance located on King Street West), M3 2QG. 0161 839 2233. http://www.sancarlocicchetti.co.uk
