Angela Hartnett’s one Michelin star restaurant Murano, in London’s Mayfair exceeded my expectations: the only disappointments were that Miss Hartnett wasn’t in the kitchen, and Murano glassware didn’t feature at all in the dining room, as far as I could see.

When we arrived at 18:30 the dining room had lots of spaces, but we were shown to a table at the back of the restaurant which initially disappointed me. But then I saw the large window to the kitchen near our table and I realised they’d given me a great table with a view of both the kitchen and the whole restaurant.

Our first Amusement was a very delicate pea tartlet (8/10) and a delicious savoury parmesan churro with fried marjoram (9/10)

We then ordered our dinner, choosing to have five courses for £95, plus a wine flight chosen by the Sommelier.  I was delighted to be able to choose a risotto, as this is one of my own ‘signature dishes’ and I wanted to compare my efforts with that of a ‘proper’ Italian kitchen. I’ve long admired Angela Hartnett and her cuisine when I see her on TV and I personally regard her food as among the best Italian fare in London.  At home, when I create an Italian inspired dish which I’m particularly proud of I always say to Mr. A, “Angela Hartnett, eat your heart out!”  I also like Angela’s relaxed, pragmatic approach to things, so I can see her as a perfect mum or big sister.

Our second Amuse Bouche was a small plate of Puglian dried ham (nice but nothing special), a tomato focaccia (I find focaccia a bit too heavy at the start of a meal), some very tasty crostini with rosemary, plus slices of (very good) brown sourdough and some excellently fresh, green and zingy Sicilian extra virgin olive oil. 7/10

During the Amuses we only drank San Peligrino as the wine flight began with the first course proper, which was Sea Bream tartare stirred in calamansi, celery and horseradish.  It was deliciously light and citrussy, though I thought the presentation was a touch ‘casual’.  8.5/10 But then I thought about times I’ve seen Angela H on TV and I reminded myself that she’s passionate about simple, home-style cooking, with the ingredients, not the presentation, being the most important things to focus on.

Our second dish was the risotto I’d been looking forward to; a crab risotto with pink grapefruit, fennel and basil.  It was delicious, with creamy al dente carnaroli rice and delicate crab meat lifted by a citrus kick – much better than my efforts at home and quite possibly the best risotto I’ve ever had: there seemed to be so many layers of complementary favours, especially so when I sipped the paired wine, a 2013 German Riesling. 10/10.  At the end of the meal I visited the kitchen and made a point of personally thanking the sous chef who made it. I’m aware Italians don’t believe in adding cheese to seafood, but this was sooo creamy. The chef told me all that creaminess came from the brown crab meat.

Our third course was a light summery dish of asparagus with a hazelnut pesto and fresh ricotta. The asparagus had only been very lightly charred and some thin slices appeared raw, so it was just a little too al dente for me. The ricotta was lovely, but overall I would describe this as a “fine” dish, not an “outstanding” one. 7/10

My main fish course was “Halibut, potato, snail beignet, parsley veloute”. What a dish this was! Diced apple pieces added acidic summeryness to the parsley and the perfectly cooked fish. The deep fried ball of diced snail worked very nicely and a potato ‘crisp’ formed of round potato slices roasted into a flower shape was brilliant; properly crisp and non-greasy. There were lots of great flavours combining really beautifully on the plate, flavours which did a double twist when I sipped from my glass of Mersault 1er cru 2006. 10/10 if I ignore the accidentally messy presentation.

Main course was a beautifully pink lamb saddle with a mint and mustard seed crust, sitting on fresh peas, with a cube of rendered lamb belly, and a beignet of shoulder meat. There was a good parsley and garlic puree and a lamb jus.  Once again I thought this a lovely dish, worthy of a score of 9/10, but the meat and the jus were both way over-salted, so I only score it 7/10 .  For info, Mr A’s beef was also too salty to be enjoyable.  I’d actually seen the meat chef de partie seasoning some meats, through the window, the I had a toilet break, and I was amazed by how much salt he added.  I think the Chef de Cuisine needs to monitor and talk to the chef de partie.  When we visited the kitchen the drop in the brigade’s mood was palpable when I mentioned the saltiness of our main courses, and I got the feeling mine wasn’t the first complaint they’d had about this.

By this time I was full and started displaying some of the symptoms I get from my ongoing abdominal problems, so we declined dessert and also tea or coffee.  Very generously though, they still served us a ‘pre-dessert’ of a lovely little tiramisu and ‘petit fours’ of salted fudge and lime jelly, which were both very nice.

My total bill, for two people, was £476.44, even after they removed our main courses from the total (much appreciated).  The price had been inflated by £249 because of the price of the wines we had, but they were all very good and matched the food very well.

Overall I score Murano 8.5/10 notwithstanding the salty meat, which I believe can be easily rectified by the kitchen.  My meal was well-balanced and appropriate to the season and impressed me more than I had expected to be.  It was as good start to four back-to-back top meals I’d booked for our short break to London.