We’re celebrating another award-winning month with our San Carlo restaurant in Leeds city centre and Cicchetti at Piccadilly, London both claiming industry accolades.

San Carlo in Leeds won ‘Best European Restaurant’ in H&N Magazine’s Eat Awards.  Voted for by the public, the Yorkshire lifestyle publication recognised our South Parade restaurant as outstanding in its category and presented the winning certificate to General Manager Angelo Plazzi earlier this month.

In the Capital, Cicchetti Piccadilly was successful in Prestige Events Magazine’s COOL Venue Awards.

The finals for the annual event, which is currently in its 9th year, took place at Cafe de Paris on Thursday 3rd March.

Our Cicchetti bar and restaurant on St James’ was shortlisted in the ‘COOLest Italian’ category, beating others including Theo Randall, The River Cafe and Jamie’s Italian Restaurants to the coveted top spot.

We now have our fingers crossed for the Yorkshire Evening Post Oliver Awards which take place on Monday 21st March where San Carlo Leeds has been shortlisted for ‘Best Italian’.

We’d also welcome your nominations in the Birmingham Food Drink & Hospitality Awards.  Vote for our San Carlo Birmingham and Fumo, Birmingham restaurants here: http://thebfdhawards.co.uk/.

Pasqua (Easter) in Italy is a time for coming together with friends and family to feast and celebrate new life, with tables overflowing with an abundance of culinary delights.

At San Carlo, we share this passion for life, friends, family and great food and our restaurants offer the ideal setting for your family celebration. With Good Friday falling on March 25th, Easter will soon be upon us, with San Carlo restaurants open every day over the holiday, why not let us take care of your family gathering. For all locations and reservation details please go to www.sancarlo.co.uk

A hidden gem, if you haven’t experienced San Carlo’s Gran Cafe on lower ground floor at Selfridges, Exchange Square in Manchester, now you have two more reasons to visit.

Just named Cafe of the Year 2016 in the prestigious Les Routiers Awards, an award presented to honour establishments which consistently achieve outstanding standards,  Gran Cafe has is also receiving rave reviews for its all new afternoon tea.

Offering elegant, European style cafe dining in a fresh, chic setting, Gran Cafe serves a delicious range of all day brunch dishes, seasonal superfood salads, soups, smoothies, fabulous patisserie and gelato creations alongside a range of cocktails, wines, champagne, speciality teas and coffees.

Now, the award winning venue introduces the Gran Cafe Afternoon Tea – a spectacular, indulgent treat with a delightful Italian twist. Elegantly presented alongside a selection of high grade speciality teas including white, rosebud, green and jasmine options, diners can choose to have theirs with or without champagne. The afternoon tea features a range of hand crafted sweet and savoury treats, including smoked salmon and marscapone with red apple, cucumber, lime and dill and a mini melanzane parmigiana (layers of baked aubergine, mozzarella and Parmesan) the sweet selection includes a mini fresh fruit panna cotta, a scone with clotted cream and jam and a slice of Italian style mille-feuille. At £15.95 per person or £25.95 with champagne, the Gran Cafe afternoon tea experience offers the perfect treat for a special occasion or a wonderfully indulgent break whilst shopping!

Gran Cafe is open 10am – 8pm Monday to Friday, 9am – 8pm on Saturdays and from 11am – 530pm on Sundays.

This month’s recipe will leave you feeling warm and comforted. Pillow soft, delicious gnocchi are much easier to make than you think, served with rich and aromatic truffle oil and a decadent topping, if you’re looking for the perfect Valentines recipe, this is it. Enjoy!

If you make it, why not share it – we’d love to see your creations, send your photo with the name of the dish, your name and location to info@sancarlo.co.uk and you might see it featured in a future newsletter.

‘Gnocco al Tartufo Croccante’

Serves 8 people

For the Gnocchi:

• 2 kg potatoes
• 350g polenta flour
• 2 eggs
• 10g salt
• 90g grated parmesan cheese
• 5g nutmeg
• 150g flour
• 60ml truffle oil

For the Fondue:

• 1l Double Cream
• 600g Grated Parmesan
• 2 eggs yolks
• 25ml Worcester sauce
• 8g salt
• 5g nutmeg
• 5g white pepper
• 20 g fresh truffle on top (optional)

Method:

Wash potatoes and add to a pan of cold water, add 2 dessert spoons of rock salt, add to the heat and bring to the boil. Boil the potatoes until they’re cooked through and soft. Drain and remove from the pan while the potatoes are still warm, peel and mash until smooth.

Prepare a mixture of truffle oil, nutmeg, parmesan, salt and black pepper, eggs and polenta flour and add the mixture to the mashed potato, mix together well. Lastly, add the flour gradually in small quantities and mix together, creating a dough.

While the dough is still warm use a cold spoon and form each gnocchi,  toss in polenta flour so the flour covers fully.

Fondue
To make the fondue, pour the double cream in to a pan and add to the heat, as the cream heats through and comes to the boil add the parmesan, salt, black pepper, Worscester sauce and egg yolks, whisk all the ingredients together and leave to cool slightly. To finish, add the mixture to a blender, blend until smooth and transfer back into a pan to heat through before serving.

Finally, to cook the gnocchi, add vegetable oil to a pan and heat through, take each gnocchi and add to a hot pan, cook through turning frequency until they form a light brown colour

Serve the fondue warm with the gnocchi and finish with a drizzle of truffle oil
Tweet us a photograph of your dish to @SanCarlo_Group

We were delighted to feature in The Culture Trip’s round up of London’s Best New Restaurants. Highlighting our truffle dishes the website branded our San Carlo Cicchetti, Covent Garden as “By far the best Italian restaurant in London, if not the UK.” Grazie!

Here’s the full article: Read more…

Mother’s Day is a big occasion in Italy – one of the most important holidays in the Italian year, a day when families traditionally come together from wherever they are to celebrate and look after their Mother.

At San Carlo we love family gatherings and celebrations so we are the perfect venue to treat your Mamma and Nonna to a memorable meal on Sunday 6th March.

Our award-winning restaurants will be serving the extensive a la carte menu of regional Italian food as well as a selection of seasonal and seafood specials from noon until late.

Excellent food, together with an impressive wine list, outstanding service and a buzzing atmosphere make San Carlo Group restaurants the ideal venue for this special day – and any occasion.

Book your table at www.sancarlo.co.uk or call your restaurant of choice to make a reservation.

Still looking for that special Valentines Day surprise?  Let us do the hard work for you, after all, Italian is the food of love!

We have a limited number of tables available at our restaurants, to find your nearest location and make that all important reservation go to www.sancarlo.co.uk and choose locations.

If you’re looking for a super chic Valentines treat then head over to San Carlo Gran Café on the lower ground floor of Selfridges in Exchange Square, their limited edition Valentines macarons are good enough to swoon over.

Inspired by retro heart sweets, the boxes of four macarons are hand iced with cute,  loving messages such as ’Be Mine’ and ‘Kiss Me.’ In three delicate shades of pink they come in two romantic flavours, rose and raspberry and strawberries and champagne. In a clear hand bag style box hand tied with Gran Café ribbons, at £8.50 they make the perfect Valentines treat.

Find San Carlo Gran Café on the lower ground floor of Selfridges Exchange Square, Manchester

Open every day for breakfast, brunch, lunch and afternoon tea.  Monday – Friday 10am – 8pm; Saturdays 9am – 8pm; Sundays 11.00am-5.30pm

Cicchetti in Manchester has something special for romantics and foodies alike, with their unique creation, Risotto San Valentino Cicchetti with Edible Flowers, pretty as a picture, it’s almost too good to eat! Book now to wow your loved one and save on the flowers, too!