Looking for the perfect treat for your mum this Mother’s Day?

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 on Sunday 6th March.

Excellent food, an impressive wine list, outstanding service and a buzzing atmosphere make San Carlo the ideal venue for saying thank you to a loved one.

Book your table at www.sancarlo.co.uk

Treat your loved one to the San Carlo experience at home this month with our ‘Paccheri Busera’ (available at Cicchetti and Fumo), an early Valentine’s Day recipe from Executive Chef Filippo Pagani’s.

Originating from Venice, one of the most romantic cities in the world, Filippo suggests this delicious seafood and pasta dish with a touch of chilli, could be the perfect recipe for love!

‘Paccheri Busera’

Ingredients for 2 People:

• 180g Paccheri pasta
• 300g Scampi or fresh tiger prawns
• 100g Cherry tomatoes
• 10g Garlic
• 5g Red chilli
• 10g Fresh basil
• 40g Extra Virgin olive oil
• 5g Worcester sauce
• 3g Tabasco sauce
• 4g Brown sugar
• 30g Unsalted butter
• 20ml Brandy
• Salt – season to taste

Method:

Start by peeling the fresh tiger prawns or scampi, loosen the head of each prawn to allow the flavour into each one.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the prawns and fry them for 2/3 minutes. As the prawns cook they will change colour from grey to pink.

Crush the garlic and chilli, mix to a paste and add to the pan. When the garlic starts to brown add the brandy which will light as you pour. Add the ready chopped (in half) cherry tomatoes, basil, worcester sauce, tabasco sauce, brown sugar and season with salt.

Put the paccheri pasta in a pan of salted boiling water to cook for 12 minutes. Drain the pasta and combine with the main dish, stir well. Add the butter and leave on a low heat to cook through.

Drizzle with a touch of olive oil and serve with fresh Italian bread and a green salad.

Tweet us a photograph of your dish to @SanCarlo_Group

Italian is the language of love and Italy is one of the most romantic cities in the world so Valentine’s Day is understandably one of the annual festivals celebrated with enthusiasm with lovers taking the opportunity to express affection with gifts and cards.

Our five-course Valentine’s Day set menu has been created with passion and love, with every dish carefully crafted to ensure your special one is spoilt for choice.

So, whether you’re on a first date, dining with your husband or wife or planning a proposal, make San Carlo your choice for Sunday 14 February this year.

Here’s a sneak preview of what’s on offer:
Starters include Carpaccio of Tuna; thinly sliced sashimi grade tuna with citrus and pink peppercorn dressing or Tagliolini Con Aragosta; a special egg pasta from Venice with lobster, brandy, cream and a hint of tomato.

After a prosecco and lemon sorbet choose from main courses such as Gamberoni E Capesante Thermidor; giant Madagascan prawn with king scallops in classic thermidor sauce or Tournedo Rossini; fillet of 28 days matured Angus beef with Madeira sauce topped with chicken liver pate.

Finish your meal with one of our homemade Italian desserts, coffee and petit fours.

The full Valentine’s Day menu and prices are now available on our website. Dishes and prices vary on the San Carlo Leicester and Signor Sassi, Knightsbridge Green menus. Booking is essential.

Start your day with breakfast and it’s proven you’ll not only snack less through the day but you’re brain and body will benefit too!

That’s why we’re calling on you to get involved in this year’s National Breakfast Week (24th January – 30th January). Enjoy a morning visit to one of our restaurants in London and Manchester that are open before noon for breakfast and brunch.

Fresh Pastries, Smooth Italian Coffee, Granola, Pancakes, Eggs Benedict, Breakfast Sandwiches, Omelettes and our renowned ‘Great Cicchetti Breakfast’ – a ‘Full English’ with a San Carlo Group twist – are all on the menu to tempt you through the door.

For just £7.95 ‘The Great Cicchetti Breakfast’ includes eggs of your choice: two fried, poached or scrambled; with smoked bacon and baked beans, two Lancashire Farm pork and leek sausages, sauteed mushrooms with onions, hash brown, tomato and Bury black pudding. Served with toast and tea or coffee.

Cicchetti in Piccadilly and Covent Garden, London and Cicchetti in Manchester are all ready to serve from 8am on weekdays and 9am at weekends.

Bottega and Gran Cafe restaurants in Selfridges, Manchester are also open early offering savoury and sweet Italian dishes alongside the Breakfast Belini and, of course, ‘The Great Bottega Breakfast’!

For full details and opening hours visit our website www.sancarlo.co.uk
For more details on Breakfast Week visit www.shakeupyourwakeup.com/breakfast-week

Our elegant Gran Cafe in Selfridges, Manchester has won ‘Cafe of the Year’ in the prestigious 2016 UK and Ireland Les Routiers Awards.

The cafe, bar and patisserie on the lower ground Floor of the designer department store was recognised for consistently meeting and exceeding the Les Routiers’ membership standards and highlighted for its overall outstanding performance, as well as excellent customer feedback and reviews.

Tina Griffiths, Customer Service Executive at Les Routiers UK and Ireland, said: “Les Routiers acknowledges establishments which share a sense of individuality that sets them apart from global chains. Our annual awards are an opportunity to champion venues, such as Gran Cafe, that are well-managed, offer exceptional food and immpecable service.”

San Carlo Group Chairman Carlo Distefano added: “Gran Cafe only launched in August 2015 so we are understandably delighted to be achieving awards so soon after opening.”

Les Routiers brand is recognised worldwide and recommends quality independent restaurants and hotels across the UK and Ireland.

Fumo Birmingham also received recognition with a nomination for ‘Restaurant of the Year’ 2016, an award which the bar, restaurant and late lounge won in 2015.

Join the San Carlo celebrations this New Year – and enjoy a superb five-course Italian dinner.

There’s only a few tables remaining to see out 2015 at one of our restaurants nationwide so don’t delay in making a booking!

This year’s set menu is sensational with starters such as Gamberoni San Carlo, large king prawns sautéed in lemon juice, paprika, garlic and fresh parsley and Salmone Affumicato, smoked salmon with thinly chopped white shallots and capers.

Then, after a Champagne Sorbet palate cleanser, diners can choose from main course dishes including Filetto al Pepe, Fillet steak served with creamy green peppercorn sauce and Halibut in Salsa D’Aragosta, halibut in lobster sauce.

Finish your meal with a choice of homemade Italian desserts, coffee and petit fours.

So, gather your family and friends for fabulous food and indulge with us for the final festival of 2015 – Il Capodanno!

We’re offering House of Fraser Manchester customers a free glass of Prosecco at our Cicchetti or Bottega restaurants this month.

All you have to do to receive your complimentary fizz is spend £50 in the Deansgate department store during December, then bring your receipt to a member of our Italian bar team at Cicchetti on the Lower Ground Floor or Bottega on Level 2 – and we will pour you a Prosecco.

So whether you’re shopping for yourself or someone else, spend in House of Fraser and let us treat you … why not order some delicious Italian cicchetti to enjoy when you visit us too!

Thank you all for your loyalty and support during 2015.

It’s been another successful year for the Group with us featuring in the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 ‘Ones to Recognise: 10 Rising Companies’; our Cicchetti Piccadilly London appearing on Celebrity Masterchef; several additions to our awards portfolio; the rebranding of our Farmacia Del Dolce to Gran Cafe; the opening of our Cicchetti restaurant in Doha, Qatar – to name just a few of the highlights.

2016 also looks set to be exciting and eventful with further expansion, refurbishment and restaurant launches planned both throughout the UK and oversees.

We will, of course, continue to serve outstanding Italian food and offer immpecable service at our award-winning venues and look forward to welcoming you over the festive period and in the New Year.

Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo from the Distefano family and all the San Carlo Group team.

San Carlo, South Parade, chic yet authentic Italian dining in Leeds city centre…
Situated on South Parade in the city centre, San Carlo is a large yet stylish restaurant, designed to create its own, unique atmosphere, using natural light and glass to blend contemporary and classic themes. This exciting destination features a hand carved stone bar, imported from Italy, perfect for enjoying a pre dinner drink…

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