I rather miss Cafe Luc, the Belgian Brasserie at the top of the High
street. I turned up one day for an impromptu lunch and they were moving out.
The manager told me they’d been bought by an Italian.
Bruno Barbieri, a Michelin starred Masterchef wanted to “join the wealth of
restaurant talent in London”.
Several months later (surprising, given the decor’s barely changed) the
new restaurant Cotidie has opened. It’s a serious restaurant, with complex
dishes and rigid staff - an all Italian crew behaving like the French. I
expected something more relaxed and engaging from the menu and exuberant chefs
shouting risotto recipes at each other.
Instead the tables have thinned out, and in a half
full restaurant, a church like ambience seems too precious for the High Street.
My partner’s suggestion of a jazz piano in the corner was possibly more than
required but I think the atmosphere and format may have to be tweaked to work
in Marylebone.
Food was elaborately precise, at times overly complex,
but well worth a try.
Cotidie - 50 Marylebone High Street,
W1U 5HN T: 020 7258 9878
