Chef Carlo Scotto opens his first solo restaurant

Marylebone’s Xier will offer casual and fine dining to sate all tastes

Ex-Babbo chef Carlo Scotto will open his first solo venture, Xier, in Marylebone on February 19 – and has opened bookings for those keen to secure a table at the new address, which will offer both casual and fine dining.

The larger casual dining area will reside on the ground floor, offering both lunch and dinner, while Scotto will serve an ambitious 10-course tasting menu (£90 per person) for 38 guests each evening on the first floor. Those joining the dining experience – designed to reflect Scotto’s influences and experiences as a chef – can expect such culinary delights as obsiblue prawns served with wild fennel, wasabi caviar and fresh raspberry or rose-cured salmon with foie gras, burnt figs and leaf oil and citrus dressing.

The menu is largely organic and much of the produce will be sourced from the award-winning Rhug Estate Organic Farm in north Wales. “London is a place that has brought me incredible opportunities, so it felt right to open here and showcase fantastic British produce,” says Scotto. “It’s also always been my ambition to open a restaurant that draws together what I love about food from around the world.”

A dish of red mullet, red pepper fluid gel, burnt aubergine puree and carrots

Now aged 32, chef Scotto was taught to cook as a child by his Italian grandmother. He began his career as a chef’s apprentice at the Michelin-starred restaurant Don Salvatore in his native Naples. On moving to London, he worked with Corbin & King before joining Michelin-starred Murano, where he met head chef and mentor Angela Hartnett. The kitchen at Galvin La Chapelle followed, before he took the helm as head chef at Babbo in Mayfair at the youthful age of 26.