After a delayed opening in September, followed by a temporary closure, Italian restaurant Tutto reopened on Wednesday, 19th October, hurrah!
Shortly after its soft launch, Tutto closed its doors again to sort out some teething problems identified at that time.
Restaurateur Razak Helalat – the man behind The Coal Shed, The Salt Room and new popular hangout Burnt Orange – posted an admirably open message on social media about the reasons for the closure:
“…we rushed the opening due to delayed building works by seven weeks, making it almost impossible to plan anything constructively. We feel we didn’t have enough time to embed the team within the building before opening for the soft launch and have been hit with a wave of staff sicknesses and shortages at the same time.
As we come out of our soft opening period, I’m sad to say that the delivery of the concept and consistency of the food and service have not aligned to my original vision, so I’ve made the difficult decision to close for a couple of weeks whilst we regroup.”
Tutto (Italian for ‘all’) was originally headed up by Sardinian-born chef Mirella Pau (formerly head chef at Covent Garden’s Cafe Murano and Shoreditch’s Padella, pictured below with Razak) under the wonderfully inclusive ethos of ‘bring everyone, eat everything’ before Thomas Catley took over as head chef last October.
The informal, all-day restaurant takes its inspiration from traditional Italian dining culture and aims to bring together all of its basic elements, focusing on simple quality and the Italian experience of sharing delicious, seasonal food, all cooked from the open ‘theatre’ kitchen.
It’s Italian all the way with cicchetti to kick off your meal (such as tomato, mozzarella and basil panzerotti and breaded butterflied sardines with spiced chopped eggs) followed by a wide variety of antipasti, primi and secondi courses, complemented by a strong 90-bottle wine list and classic Italian drinks.
Mirella has kept some dishes true to their traditional Italian roots, like the thinly sliced Lake District veal, tonnato dressing, caper berries and aubergine parmigiana, but has experimented with non-traditional Italian flavours, such as fermented chilli and tarragon and orange mustard, elsewhere.
As you’d probably expect, the building is a beauty, too. The new 70-cover addition to Razak’s tasty Black Rock Restaurants stable is set in a beautifully restored grade II-listed 1930s former bank on Marlborough Place. They’ve left many of the original Neo-Georgian features in place, so a characterful dining space is guaranteed. And if you’d rather sit outside for your evening aperitivo or dinner al fresco, there’s space on the terrace for another 30 covers.
20-22 Marlborough Place, Brighton BN1 1UB
tutto-restaurant.co.uk
Photo credits: James French Photography; John Carey (food)
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