Lita

From a distance, Lita could be mistaken for something quite easy-going - a place to twiddle pasta and sink a Spritz or two, surrounded by potted olive trees. But underneath the rustic charm lies a behemoth of live fire cooking and slick design. The herringbone brick floors have been painstakingly refurbished. The walls - either plaster or limewash - are a carefully considered shade of dusty rose, matching the terracotta and timber elsewhere. Lita is a truly beautiful restaurant, but not by accident - there is meticulous design at play here.

If Lita’s ambitions weren’t clear from the interiors, they are crystal clear on the menu. Most starters hover between the £20-£30 mark, with mains largely heading north of £40. Sharing dishes include a whole turbot, cooked a la Brat over open fire, for £130, and a 1.2kg rib of Galician beef for £160. This is special occasion territory for sure, which demands a certain level of cookery.

Thankfully, Lita has quality in spades in the kitchen and most of what we ate signalled Lita as a restaurant that we’re likely to hear a whole lot more about in the coming months. A plate of bluefin tuna carpaccio is a wallet-haunting £25, but the interplaying flavours of sweet corno pepper and caper are wonderful. We skip the option of caviar and chips at £160 and continue onto a small bowl of hand-cut strozzapreti with duck ragu. Like much of head chef Luke Ahearne’s cooking here, it’s not overly complex but is executed to rare levels - just rich, meaty ragu, perfect pasta, and a heavy dusting of 36 month old Parmesan. The best example of this is two slabs of pan con tomate - sopping in good olive oil and crisped over the open fire, before being draped with two of the meatiest anchovies we’ve ever seen. It’s food that leaves you wanting more.

A plate of Cull Yaw seemed a rare misstep then - three pieces of admittedly delicious mutton, but with an amount of unrendered fat that would surely put some people off. At £56 it could have you logging into online banking at the table. Given the prices, service wasn’t quite as slick as the rest of the restaurant, with a few ordering issues meaning we spent about four and a half hours in the restaurant. We’re inclined to put these small issues down to opening month jitters though, and frankly, there are worse places to spend an evening.

The team behind Chelsea's Wild Tavern has joined forces with restaurateur Daniel Koukarskikh to bring us Lita, a contemporary, Mediterranean inspired restaurant in London's leafy Marylebone. 

The name Lita is short for 'abuelita', Spanish for grandma, and diners can expect to dine in a relaxed and friendly setting that mimics the warmth of a family home. The restaurant itself takes up a considerable site on Paddington Street, with front doors and windows that open fully, giving the restaurant an open-air, Mediterranean feel on London's warmer days. The restaurant boasts 80 covers inside, and 20 seats on its front terrace which looks directly onto the street.

Inside, guests can ogle at the open fire grill which has been designed to be ‘reminiscent of a grand chateau kitchen’, allowing diners to get a glimpse of the action as meat and fish cooks gently over the flames. Meanwhile, the open plan dining room boasts an abundance of natural light, emphasised by an abundance of wood, an exposed brick herringbone floor and a warm, earthy colour palette.

Overseeing the kitchen is former head chef of Corrigan's Mayfair, Luke Ahearne, who brings a considerable pedigree with him. Here, he has created a seasonal, produce-driven menu that delivers precise cooking in a very relaxed atmosphere. Lita's cooking champions Mediterranean flavours, though the food is broadly categorised as modern European, using predominantly British ingredients. Luke also promises a menu that changes often as ingredients come and go through the seasons.

The food menu is accompanied by an eclectic selection of wine, from small biodynamic producers to well-established European wineries, as well as a compact cocktail list that includes house mixes like the Crema Catalana Punch (lemon-infused Grey Goose, Licor43 and vanilla) and Jasmine Highball (Grey Goose, Pisco Italia, jasmine and aloe).