Harvey Nichols Fifth Floor Terrace, 109-125 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7RJ
The Italian sparkling water people San Pellegrino have taken over the terrace area on the 6th floor of Harvey Nichols from the 10th July to the 7th August to host an Italian food month celebrating Italian conviviality and curated by the Italian Supper Club. 
San Pellegrino have a great track record in encouraging gastronomy with their international young chef competition being the foremost of its kind. 
As a special treat on Tuesdays they have been running a series of banquets from some very top-end chefs; Theo Randall from his eponymous restaurant at The Intercontinental and previously The River Café, Young Turk James Lowe from Lowe’s in Shoreditch and Alyn Williams from the Westbury. These events give you the chance to interact and hear from the chefs at close quarters-each is creating a four course menu with Italian influence, accompanied by S.Pellegrino, and for a few quid more Italian wines have been matched with each course. 
If this wasn’t enough I have been invited to the launch event featuring stellar young talent Ollie Dabbous who burst onto the scene with a slew of rave reviews just a handful of years ago with Dabbous in Fitzrovia.
After an introductory glass of excellent Prosecco we sat down to a plate of Buffalo milk ricotta with a cipollini onion salad, crushed Sicilian pistachios, Amalfi lemon and Nepitella (a cross between mint and oregano). This was a light and summery dish with wonderful textural contrasts especially the different levels of crunch of the pistachio and onion and how that combined with gentleness of the ricotta. I love the new Sicilian wines that are now available and the accompanying Etna Bianco Graci 2014 was characteristically mineral, with notes of lychee and apple.
Salmon Crudo was served with the sweet-flavoured stripy Chioggia beetroot and marigold shoots which slightly unexpectedly tasted of coriander seeds. The fish was lightly cured and mixed with lovage and yoghurt. The acidity of the accompanying Kerner Isarco 2014 was the perfect match for the richness of the fish.
For my main I had charred Farinata, the chewy Genoese unleavened chickpea pancake, with a delicious piece of cumin-spiced pan-fried cod and crushed green herbs. This was a great dish-lots of flavours and textures jostling for attention but still light. The accompanying glass of red, a Cos Cerasuolo 2013, was spicy with cherry and oak flavours coming through.
Dessert was a beautiful wild strawberry tartlet with marscapone cream, camomile and vanilla. The light fruit, spice and minerality of my glass of Terre Nere Etna Rosso 2014 was a great match.
The Live in Italian pop-up runs until the 7th August Tickets are available online or call +44 (0)20 7235 5250 or email reception@harveynichols.com to contact a member of the Fifth Floor team. They are really enjoyable events-you should go!
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