Opening of the week: Florentine
What: An all-day dining restaurant and bar with British-Italian menu, close to Lambeth North in south London. Its ostrich eggs have been a social media sensation.
Who: It's part of the Park Plaza Hotel Group (PPHE) but billed as an independently operated restaurant. The head chef is Ryan Matheson who has worked in hotel restaurants for over a decade. Joining him is 'concept chef' Simone Gobbo, and consultant chef Daniele Pampagnin.
The vibe: Cosmopolitan and shiny with a hint of hotel lounge. Designed by Digital Space, the restaurant has 90 covers with room for a further 40 in the bar. Instagram and Twitter handles on the artwork and napkins shows Florentine is aiming for the plugged-in, social media-savvy crowd.
The menu: Casual, everyday fare including burgers, steaks and flatbreads. There's a bottomless brunch on Saturday with roasts served on Sunday. A fruity, ‘superfood’-focused cocktail menu ‒ including the gin, lime, grapefruit juice and thyme-based Thyme To Be Great ‒ joins a large selection of craft beers and a 45-bin wine list.
And another thing: Instagram accounts at the ready: Florentine’s stand-out brunch dish is the massive £90 ostrich egg, which is designed for six or so people to share. The equivalent of around 24 hens' eggs, it’s one of the most egg-cellent photo ops in London right now (sorry. It is Easter, after all).
Photo: The Florentine ostrich egg, £90 for up to six people/ Facebook)
