San Carlo is synonymous with refined Italian dining and, let’s face it, a bit of football player-adjacent glitziness. But when it comes to food, they consistently deliver the seasonally-inspired goods.
As we firmly enter the Autumn/Winter season, their menu has shifted accordingly, and the offering is full of warming flavours, satisfying salads and generous helpings of the king of mushrooms – the truffle.
To share, there’s a vast focaccia (the internet’s favourite bread of the moment) topped with fior di latte cheese and gratings of truffle. You can supplement this with a series of generous antipasti dishes like beef tartare with mustard or a pulled roast chicken salad with egg and sun dried tomatoes, which feels like a fresher version of a Caesar salad.
Soup fans will be more than happy about the vallutata di lenticchie, a slow cooked lentil and vegetable soup. There’s also a chicken liver paté with sourdough and a pear, melon and walnut salad served atop buffalo mozzarella, a nutty-but-light classic which segues perfectly into some more carb-focussed mains.
There’s then four pasta dishes, all perfectly conceived for cosy autumnal afternoons and evenings. Standouts include the ravioli porcini where handmade mushroom parcels are served in a richly savoury sauce.
There’s also a lamb meatball dish where the meatballs have been poached in their own sauce for extra flavour, and arguably the heavyweight of the menu; the five-hour slow cooked duck ragù served on fresh ribbons of pasta. If you prefer a beef ragù there’s one of those too, served on mafaldine (which, for the uninitiated, are wavy ribbons).
San Carlo has loads of spots across Greater Manchester, and while they all have a slightly different look and feel – from the classic elegance of King Street’s original spot to the sleek grandeur of Oxford Road’s San Carlo Fumo Bar & Grill – they all share an indulgent but un-stuffy feel.
And the service is as slick as anything. Out at their Alderley Edge restaurant there’s a roaring fire, a canopy of foliage and palazzo-like pink and green interiors – truly a cosy spot for a festive, or (pre-festive) celebration.
And if there’s any room for dessert after all that, the San Carlo team have introduced an almond and peach frangipane and a chocolate and almond tart to their offering. With the former being gluten free offering too, it’s a crowd-pleasingly simple combo.
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