Authentic Italian at Fucina

Sadly this restaurant has now closed

The minute I saw the bellini from Fucina on my friend Binny’s Facebook post from her and Aftab’s Dynamic Duo night out, I just knew I had to try it! It was love at first bellini….

After a pretty awful pasta the weekend before, I really didn’t want to repeat the experience but Binny and Aftab assured me the food at Fucina was really good. And if you can’t trust food bloggers, who can you trust?! So off my husband and I went on a Saturday for lunch to give it a try.

Fucina is a very modern Italian restaurant in Marylebone – and conveniently fairly close to where we live. It opened in November last year and uses only organic produce from both the U.K and Italy. I really like the decor, the marble bar and the windows with their beautiful shades of green glass panels on the windows that let in the natural light.

They don’t serve a lunch menu but rather a brunch menu, which has a variety of dishes. Our Italian waiter Emilio talked us through the dishes and also explained the concept of the restaurant.

Whilst we were looking through the menu we had to try their bellini (it’s what brought me there, after all) and also ordered some bread. The bellini definitely tasted as good as it looked! They serve it by the glass, carafe and by the jug – great if you’re dining with a group. The bread was so fresh, lightly toasted and brushed with olive oil.

I won’t lie, I’m not really a ‘brunch’ kind of person so I felt the brunch menu was lacking in lunch-type starters. We opted for the roast vegetable, avocado, walnuts and gorgonzola salad and a ciabatta with parma ham, mozzarella and basil.

My husband detests onion so I was glad that they could accommodate our request for no onion in the salad. The salad was a good portion and had loads of gorgonzola – yummy!

My husband is Italian so he has grown up on a diet of ciabbata, paninis and any other kind of Italian bread filled with meat. In fact, he’s a bread monster (which is why we also ordered the bread basket)! It’s not something I would normally order but I have to say it was really tasty. It was lightly toasted too which elevated it for me and you could tell the ingredients were top quality.

I’m delighted to say that the brunch menu does include pasta dishes and they all sounded delectable. I opted for the tortelloni, filled with spinach and ricotta and served with a walnut sauce. OH MY! It was superb. Honestly, my husband is not a fan of filled pastas (apart from tortellini) but even he thought it was delicious. He ate quite a few forkfuls….

My husband chose the Pennoni with maiale nero (black pork) sausage & cime di rape. Usually cime di rape is quite bitter (it has a very particular taste) but this wasn’t bitter at all. It was very hearty and perfect for a cold Winter’s day!

I was so impressed with the pasta, I asked to see the dinner menu. I can categorically say that we will definitely be coming back for lunch but also for dinner as I really want to try the Fiorentina T-bone Steak.

They’re opening a Panetteria – a deli and bakery – just a couple of doors down soon so head there for some fresh bread, yummy ciabattas or treat yourself to some cake.

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