Piazza

Sunday, March 08, 2009 - Piazza by Anthony is a scarily impressive project, taking up 13,200 square feet, much of which is a striking 125-seater brasserie. Handsome dark chairs, wood-grain tables and curving banquettes in gentle heritage colours spread themselves over what was the corn-trading basement floor… The blatantly crowd-pleasing brasserie menu runs from snacky olives and spiced almonds to small and large salads, pasta and risotto dishes, char-grilled fillet steak and come-hither fish dishes such as Whitby cod with chorizo cassoulet. Something for everyone, as they say.

Sunday, February 22, 2009 - Looking down from the ground-floor gallery, the first thing you see is the restaurant area, hemmed in by clever slate-grey curving walls that make it an organic part of the building. For the real joy, though, you have to wander beneath the gallery, where there's a bakery, patisserie, chocolatier, wine shop, cheese shop and charcuterie… But all of this would be worthless if the brasserie was not up to snuff. Happily it is. The menu is long, and all the salads and pasta or rice dishes are offered in starter portions as well as main-course size. This has to be a smart move. Smarter still is the fact that it exceeds expectations.