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!
Kurobuta Harvey Nichols – Review
Kurobuta Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge
109-125 Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7RJ
020 7920 6443/www.kurobuta-london.com/location/harvey-nichols/
Chef Scott Hallsworth’s Kurobuta brands itself as a ‘Rock’n Roll Izakaya’ and with its low neon lighting, flight cases strewn artfully around the space, AC/DC on the turntable and Japanese tapas style plates it lives up to its billing.
Sitting on the 6th floor of Harvey Nichols alongside other popular restaurant brands such as Polpo, Burger & Lobster and Yo Sushi it’s the mean big brother in a leather jacket to the other cleaner cut occupants.
Style is always important but I’ve been invited to review the food. Before Fiona and I start fighting over our sharing plates we hit a couple of cocktails. A Sake Caipirinha (£10) is a Nikkei take on the Brazilian classic. Smashed limes and fresh lychees blended with signature brew, plum sake and Kwai feh Lychee liqueur give it a beautiful balance. The Porn Star Martini (£10) was obviously Fiona’s choice-a citrusy blend of vanilla vodka, passion fruit and lime with a shot of Prosecco on the side.
Sweet potato and Soba-Ko (buckwheat) fries were crisp and moreish with a lightly spiced batter and a couple of piquant sauces.
Even more delicious were flamed edamame beans with sake, lemon, butter and Maldon salt. The beans were charred with a real sweetness and were the best I’ve had. (£4.50)
A deep-fried and crunchy kale salad sprinkled with crumbled nuts had great texture and came with a savoury and citrus sesame ponzu dressing (£8.50).
With our mains we were drinking a carafe of light and elegant Konishi Gold sake (£17.50) with its citrus, cucumber and pear flavours.
Spicy BBQ Octopus was smothered with a hot chilli Aji Panca sauce (£9.50). The octopus was really tender and was give a real kick up the backside by the chilli.
Wagyu sliders turned up in a sweet doughy oriental-style bun with a crunchy onion, Umami Mayo and Yaki Niku barbecue style sauce (£17).
I loved the sticky miso grilled aubergine with candied walnuts (£9.50). Big juicy chunks of aubergine were slathered in the sweet sauce and topped with the crunch of the nuts.
Kombu roasted Chilean seabass with spicy shiso ponzu (£18) had lots of flavour, a crisp skin and a beautifully flaky texture.
A dish of honey and pistachio ice cream (£9) was served with a honeycomb crunch, pistachio cake and Japanese Suntory whisky jelly.
A selection of mango, yuzu and coconut ice-cream (£7) had an unusual outer skin covering the delicate tropical flavours.
The food at Kurobuta is vibrant and exciting. I didn’t have one dish that was weak and the robust flavours sing out over interesting textures.The space at Harvey Nichols is dark and moody, great for a date, taking your teenagers or larger parties of friends or work colleagues.
Chef Scott Hallsworth has worked with Nikka Brand Ambassador Stef Holt to expertly pair a selection of Japanese dishes to a range of Nikka whiskies, including the brand’s newest single malts: Yoichi and Miyagikyo. The seven-course menu features whisky cocktails as well as the option to try neat whisky serves, and dishes to complement the flavours in each whisky, such as scallop sashimi, malted nasu amd Koji cream; hot smoked salmon, onion miso sauce and nashi salads; grilled unagi and foie gras with puffed soba and green apple balsamic; and confit duck with gen Mai cha broth. The menu will launch at Kurobuta Harvey Nichols on Monday 13 June and will be available for customers enjoy for two weeks, just in time for Father’s Day weekend. The menu costs £55 for seven courses and the whisky matches.