For someone that is normally bang on time, I’ve been late to the Rex & Mariano party. Actually, I’ve been late to a lot of parties since I returned to London last summer. All work and no play makes Krista a very, very dull gal. So I am making up for lost time! Lots of lost time. I’ve missed Mr. Noodles and Su-Lin! It’s been too long. But there we were, just like it were yesterday (or, errr five years ago) helping ourselves to all the delicious things at Rex & Mariano with greedy abandon.
Because Rex & Mariano is delicious. Very delicious. Especially if you are like me and want to eat nothing but seafood until the day you die. (I will die slowly…of mercury poisoning.) And Rex & Mariano is not too pricey either! iPad ordering keeps their labor costs low. So that’s neat.
We ate a lot of things at Rex & Mariano and there were only two disappointments: the mushy salmon carpaccio and the courgette fries. So don’t get those, but get everything else! Especially the fritto misto. And the Sicilian prawns. All the Sicilian prawns.
Strangely, for a Saturday lunch time, the place was eerily empty. In fact, every time I’ve walked by Rex & Mariano, it’s been eerily empty. That’s more Sicilian prawns for me then!
Other lessons learned:
- Pace your ordering. We ordered all our mains at the same time and, well, they all arrived at the same time. (Surprise!!) We could have used some spacing in between, given that we were sharing everything.
- Wash your hands! You can wash your hands all over Rex & Mariano! It’s actually GENIUS. And they have Ren products in the loo if you really want to walk all the way back to the loo to wash your hands with very expensive stuff that smells really nice.
- Wines on tap! Lots of wines on tap! Another genius idea! I want to hang out at the bar at Rex & Mariano just so I can drink from all the wine taps! That being said, I am a firm believer now in the £3.50 125 ml house wine. (That’s a £21 bottle. Just take a £10.50 bottle and put a 50% markup on it and then sell it by 125 ml pourings and you’ll get to £3.50.) I am going to forget the exact numbers on R&M’s menu, but the wines by the glass started more in the vicinity of £5 quid a glass.
- I’ve been spelling focaccia wrong for most of my life.
- I really should start cataloging the hand wash used in restaurant loos along with the cheapest wine by the glass. It’s fun!
The Verdict: GO. Eat all the Sicilian prawns and wash your hands multiple times.
Oh look, Urbanspoon is now Zomato so here’s the new Zomato spoonback…let’s hope these puppies load faster than the Urbanspoon ones…
