Italian wine bar does away with tradition

A new wine bar hopes to give Londoners a new and stylish take on Italian food and drink.

Degò is the brainchild of sommelier Massimo Mioli and three childhood friends including head chef Dario Schiavo, a protégé of Alain Ducasse and Gualtiero Marchesi.

Eschewing the more traditional approach to decoration in Italian venues, Mioli has done away with wooden benches and raffia clad Chianti flasks, preferring instead sleek and elegant chairs and tables with a red and black theme, wine buckets set into the table and futuristic lighting.

Although the interiors shy away from tradition, the menus remain strongly focused on dishes from northern Italy, especially around Venice and Vicenza with the menus changing frequently to reflect the freshest of available ingredients.

Taken from the Italian words for tasting (degustazione) and tavern (osteria), the venue will cater for those looking for a quick bite to eat, with traditional cold cuts of meat, salads and wines by the glass being served in the upstairs winebar.

Downstairs the restaurant and cocktail bar will serve diners with dishes such as suckling pig fillet served with bacon and mixed vegetables in a Barolo sauce and quail eggs fried on one side with black bread and salmon carpaccio.

Degò’s winebar will be open from midday until 11pm from Monday to Saturday. The restaurant is open from midday until 3.30pm and 6pm until midnight from Monday to Thursday and from 6pm until 12.30am Friday and Saturday. It is closed on Sundays.

Degò
Portland House
4 Great Portland Street
W1V 8QJ
Tel: +44 (0) 207 636 2207

Rupert Millar, 23.11.2010