1 /5 A J: We recently visited Nomadic Dinners for the Italian night experience with Michelin star Chef Arturo Granato - "with" being the operative word. Whilst it is true, Chef Arturo Granato was present (he did a wholesome speech at the beginning of the night), the Michelin star element was not.
We arrived at 16:50 after the email stated to not arrive earlier than 16:45 however there was already around 30 people there, who had taken the limited seats around the camp fire. We also read that wed be getting a complimentary gin cocktail on arrival but instead we were offered a Bellini (which was flat).
Next, some waiters took around some small arancini which looked lovely, although sadly my partner and I did not get any because the waiters circled the trays around the same individuals. After this, some focaccia with ham and pesto circled and again, but the same people got offered until we decided to interject ourselves. The focaccia was overly chewy, ham felt low quality but the pesto was nice and fresh. We noted that some individuals had none of the canapés whilst others had several.
We then went to the "sort of" bar (manned table) to get drinks. Choices were quite limited, especially for non-alcohol drinkers. We found the best option was to buy a bottle of red wine to last the night and thought this would pair well with the "Italian" food. We were handed the bottle and two dirty glasses.
It seemed then that it was up to us to find where we had been seated. We found our seats eventually which were next to each other and crammed on a long table with 18 others. My partner and I are far from big people and to be fair, neither was anyone else on the table, however we were all elbow to elbow.
Next we were served the starter - burrata on a bed of crushed peppers and tomatoes with a balsamic glaze. Whilst this was very nice (and probably the best course), it felt like not much talent or technique went into the preparation and I wouldnt call this cooking.
The main course was a platter of ribs, chicken and sausages which has been cooked on the barbecues by the staff, served with another platter of fried veg and fennel covered in a cheese sauce. These platters were seemingly shared between eight people but was probably only enough for five and it felt uncomfortable splitting food with strangers. Perhaps if you would have visited with a large group of your own friends/family then this idea would have gone down better. The young waiters did circle around with another platter of meat after this, however only offered to people at the ends of the table, therefore we once again missed out. The sausages tasted high quality, but probably nothing more special than what we get from our local butchers and there wasnt much meat on the ribs. I didnt manage to get a piece of chicken but my partner said that it was just "okay". We didnt get any of the fennel either but the peppers were just softened with no seasoning - again, nothing special.
The dessert was supposedly tiramisu - a thin square of cake, swimming in very dilute coffee, with piped synthetic tasting cream on top. The food was okay, but the style and quality is that Id expect from a nice wedding.
The bathrooms were little huts - visually, they looked lovely. However the smell was awful, even with the candles, diffusers and air fresheners. This was obviously down to the lack of flush - a posh pee bucket.
After they were heating through coffee on the fire. This is very pedantic of me (I know) but Chef Arturo Granato stated at the start of the night that there would be cannolis - these were no where to be seen but there was a tray of sfogliatella instead (yes, both Italian pastries, very similar, but not the same). These were dry and unfortunately there was no coffee left to help wash it down. Theyd hired a opera singer as a "treat" - perhaps what most of our money was spent on along with paying for Arturo Granato to show his face (and not much more) to entice people in for an average night. Not worth ÂŁ129 per person. Would write more but Google reviews has a word limit.
