Chucs! What a hidden gem in the centre of London’s iconic Mayfair, a stunning little traditional Italian restaurant set just behind the main hustle and bustle of London in a quaint but beautiful street!
With options for both outdoor and indoor seating, we opted for a table outside to begin our evening where we enjoyed a couple of glasses of Aperol spritz alongside a sharing starter of truffle arancini, which were cooked to perfection and the perfect accompaniment to our aperitif, the weather was gorgeous too which made the outdoor seating even more enjoyable.
We then decided to move inside to a large round table to enjoy our main meal, the interior of the restaurant was very chic with a rustic traditional Italian feel! With regards to the dress code, I feel that it is the type of place where anything goes, either a nice smart casual or a more dressed up option, both would work well. The staff were incredibly attentive and couldn’t do enough for us, providing us with recommendations on both food and wine, we didn’t have to ask for a drink top up once as this was done automatically throughout the evening.
Now for the food, firstly the menu has options for everyone, whether you are vegetarian, vegan, or even gluten-free, they can accommodate any dietary requirement, choosing what to have is the hard part! The food is stunning, for starters we chose the prawn ceviche salad with fennel and pear, which was enough for two people and if you like seafood, I would highly recommend it as a super-light starter. We then moved onto a pasta course, opting for the truffle linguine, they kindly split the portion in two to make it easier to consume for the both of us, I absolutely love truffle and the flavours were incredible, all the pasta is made from scratch every single day so it is incredibly silky and fresh.
For our main course, we both opted for the seabass special which came on a bed of griddled courgettes, the fish was baked to perfection, drizzled with a light dressing too, we also ordered a side of grilled seasonal vegetables which were the perfect accompaniment! Everything was fresh and full of flavour; completely faultless!
To go with our main meal, we were recommended a bottle of light Italian white wine, slightly sweet, but not too overpowering, which we found paired beautifully with the fish.
Finally, to finish for dessert we shared a traditional tiramisu and a lemon posset, now I am not usually a massive fan of tiramisu, however, I really enjoyed this and found it not too heavy, the lemon posset was delightful, light with just the right amount of lemon to balance the flavours, both were delicious and the perfect end to a fabulous evening.
I will definitely be going to Chucs again, maybe trying one of their other two locations in central London!
Written by Victoria Winterford for Luxuria Lifestyle London and International