Cucina Asellina

On the ground floor of the luxurious ME London hotel in London, is this recently tweaked modern and relaxed Italian. I have not tasted the previous menu, but this tapas style makeover is definitely my style of dining.
The interior is opulent but don’t let that put you off. The style of service is warm and welcoming. The food is full of Italian favourites at a reasonable price. The dishes are bold and big, in little portions to share. And it works.
Prepared by an all Italian kitchen team, I’m told, we chose a selection of 5 dishes. It is recommended that you take around 3 per person to enjoy a nice medley of veg and the food groups.
First up was arancini (pumpkin & taleggio), a favourite of Cook & Pours’ Senior Writer who recently posted a fantastic guide about Sicily. It received her seal of approval, she’s Italian, so she knows. The rest of the delights that flowed out of the kitchen, ticked every box.
Pizzette with prosciutto, black truffle, fontina and rocket. Mini pizzas with NO skimping on the truffle, yum. Lobster tortelloni with cherry tomato, fresh basil and martini blanco. Broccoli with toasted chilli and garlic. Honey glazed rack of lamb with rosemary potatoes.
Surprisingly we were quite full afterwards. With good portions, at an average of £8 each, we could have comfortably continued if there was space.
Restaurants in hotels can struggle a bit. Why would you visit a city, stay in a hotel only to go to its own restaurant. There is always so much choice around. However, I would make an exception here, it is not an afterthought, it has its own identity and pull. Located on the Strand, if you are not staying at the hotel, you can grab a bite before the theatre or a wander around Covent Garden.

I was really impressed with the cooking at Cucina Asellia, it was a big improvement compared to my last visit, simple cooking using fresh ingredients, just as how good Italian cuisine should be. The service was also excellent, very New York style with great energy and enthusiasm without going over the top. Don’t expect state of the art cooking, but rather, very solid Italian at a very reasonable price in a trendy setting.

Had booked online for the all you can eat pizza and prosseco but when we arrived they said it was only for the Al la carte and the staff were not flexible with this at all

writing this after my 2^nd visit, which wasn’t as good as the first. when we first went it had just opened and perhaps they were trying a bit harder. anyway it was still very very good. reasonably priced and with great service.
the dining area is really nice, great ambiance for a hotel and the waiters are very polite.
i’ve had the stuff olives twice, 2^nd time they were a bit dry but def worth a shout.
my only gripe would be that the wine list a bit pricey.

Quick and delicious Italian food!!!
We ended up at Cucina Asellina completely by accident one evening. We had spent about a hour or two longer at Radio Bar than we had anticipated and were a little buzzed… forgetting we hadn’t yet eaten and still had a big night. We remembered the Italian restaurant in the hotel so went straight down to it.
We opted to sit at the bar and eat so we could eat quickly and get on with our evening. We ordered some calamari fritti and bread to start. The calamari was sooo good. We both ordered the Chicken paillard for entrees and were both quite satisified. Our food was delivered quickly and we were on with our evening as we had hoped for in under a hour.
We enjoyed the food so much that we ended up getting it to go another evening during our stay at the ME hotel. This time we got the Calamari and the Burrata ravioli. It was delicious, but not nearly as filling as the Chicken paillard had been, though.
I would definitely suggest Cucina Asellina to anyone in the Strand area looking for some decent Italian food.

I am often fairly skeptical about Italian restaurants and especially if they are located outside of Italy. It is not that I do not like Italian food but my experience is that the potential for disappointment is substantial. The reviews of Cucina Asellina had been promising and I have had some surprisingly good experiences from using the deals from Bookatable so I decided to give it a try as £25 for a three course dinner and a cocktail seemed decent. The restaurant is located at the Strand in the fairly newly opened Melia hotel where I had already tried the steak restaurant STK (review of that is on its way as well) and been unimpressed. Was starting to doubt a bit more during the day when I received a call to confirm the booking and they had the wrong time (7 instead of 8) and persisted until I told them that I am looking at the e-​mail confirmation and it is at 8 and if they do not believe me I can e-​mail it to them.
The restaurant is a bit tricky to find as the entrance is not actually on the Strand but the staff at the hotel seem used to people wandering in through the main hotel entrance so no problem to walk through the hotel instead. Prompt service when entering the restaurant and they ask if we prefer having our cocktail at the bar or at the table. We opt for the table and are quickly showed to our seats. The place was half-​full but it is also 8 on Saturday evening so it is really prime time for dinners.
The design of the place did not really appeal to me and I do have a difficult time to really put my finger on what it is that bothered me. The place is new and the design is clean and modern but somehow they have managed to make it feel cheap. It does have the ‘chain feel’ to it and lacks atmosphere (and I have since found out that the restaurant is owned by the ONE group who operate many restaurants, clubs and bars so that probably explains it). The loud music does not help at all — it is slightly better than at hotels other restaurants STK but for me when I go to dinner I do like being able to talk to the others there.
Service started of being great, took drink orders, drinks arrived within 5 minutes and food orders were taken. Waiter also said that we were free to order any drink as part of the set menu so no need to be limited to the list they had. The set menu deal was fairly decent, several dishes (four starters, six mains and six or seven desserts) to select from. For starters we went for a simple baby gem salad that was what one expects, must say that the dressing was good and a beef carpaccio with pickled vegetables. That was also good but in no way spectacular.
At this point service started to falter a bit as well. We tried to get the attention of our waiter to order wine with the mains but he was nowhere to be seen so after a while gave and ordered from someone else but although we ordered when our starters were cleared from the table we were halfway through our mains when the wine came. The wine list is fairly extensive and has six reds by the glass (all Italian).
On to the mains were the pasta with speck was excellent, a simple dish but executed as it should. Mistake was to order a pizza (or flatbread as they want to call it), boring and while not bad nothing special. The food was filling so when going for desserts we were extremely full. The desserts were standard so nothing to write home about, the tiramisu was ok but not more. Ice cream was acceptable. Waiving down the waiter for the bill proved difficult again so service that started out great deteriorated during the evening. Cucina Asellina is somewhere between a 2 and 3 in rating but I do give it a 2 as I would not return due to the loud music so if you do not mind dining with loud music it is a decent option.