In a world where so many are clamouring to have an opinion on food and drink, but so few know anything about it, I am drawn to Federico Fellini, whose line, “If there were a little more silence, if we all kept quiet… maybe we could understand something”, feels truer than ever.
As far as low-hanging Amalfi lemons go, the Big Mamma Group is a tree branch arching toward the ground. It is a gold-rimmed Burgundy glass full of valpolicella spilling over onto a leopard print rug to the sound of Ranieri and Celentano.
Barbarella is La Dolce Vita ideation, a sparkling glamourpuss of a place. It’s the latest from Big Mamma following a foray into Manchester and several other locations in London. The first, Shoreditch haunt Gloria, caused a fuss when it opened thanks to truffle-spotted pastas and an enormous lemon meringue pie. Sadiq Khan has become its most famous regular.
The brand, a French take on old Italy, remains very much part of the conversation. And any place that gets “food writers” to Canary Wharf, where culture goes to die, is worthy of respect. What awaits for those who haven’t been is the same opulence, the same irreverence, the same would-be Fellini film – at the very least a white-jacketed pastiche.
There, on the bar, beneath chandeliers and on cool marble, one might find myriad flavours, jokes, eyelashes and swirls of soft cheeses to bookend colourful drinks. There is the group’s biggest cocktail list to date, including a flagship pistachio espresso martini.
Those who wish to play it safe should have a negroni, highly accomplished, or any one of the Italian wines. The list is better than many others in town and rockets from Etna to Piedmont with violent abandon. And so: do not be that 1950s police officer giving a ticket to a woman in a bikini. Stand under her Barbarella.
Mackenzie Walk, Unit 3 YY, E14 5HX, bigmammagroup.com
Bar snacks
I haven’t been to a Côte Brasserie since this newspaper got the scoop on a tipping scandal in 2015. Still, time’s a healer and who can argue with £7.50 glasses of champagne? The French-style chain has launched a new happy hour (or two: 5-7pm) with the aforementioned offer alongside £4.50 beers, glasses of wine for a fiver and — this is the best bit — Crémant de Bourgogne for £5.50 a pop. Bargain. I’m not sure what the food’s like at Cote these days but the steak frites was always solid.
Across London, cote.co.uk
We’re now living in an age wherein Aldi is selling pet-nat, a type of natural sparkling wine made using methode ancestrale, which predates champagne and is adored in the London small plates arena. Aldi’s new variety is made in collaboration with the urban winery London Cru and uses a blend of reichensteiner, pinot noir, pinot meunier, chardonnay and bacchus grapes. Aldi says its new wine is “zesty” and boasts “apple notes”. Bottles cost £12.99 and customers are limited to one each.
Across London, aldi.co.uk
