A Glamorous Night out at Novikov Italian

As I mentioned in my monthly round up for the past two months I’ve been following a healthy diet and exercise regime…but a couple of days before we left for St Lucia I thought that’s it…I’ve had enough of being healthy and I sent Mr S a text.

‘Do you fancy going out for dinner tonight?’

‘Yes, finally!’

Was his response…he’d been fed up of me turning down wine, choosing salad and skipping desserts. If we were having a big night out I wanted to do it right and have the chance to get dressed up, so I requested somewhere super glamorous. You probably know it’s very difficult to get a table in London last minute on a Friday night but Mr S managed to book us a table at Novikov.

Located in Mayfair, Novikov is a large venue containing two separate restaurants, an Asian and Italian, and a basement bar. We started with a glass of champagne in the bar where you can reserve an area or just find a comfy sofa for two, as we did. It felt so lovely to be on a date night on London and we sipped our champagne and took in the cool atmosphere of the lounge with the decadent furnishings and live DJ. It certainly fit my criteria for glamour and it gave me a chance to wear my new little black dress.
After enjoying our champagne we headed to the light, bright and buzzy Italian restaurant; a complete contrast to the darker more sexy Asian restaurant upstairs.
Mr S and I have been to Novikov before and I have to say it wasn’t my favourite place. We had enjoyed the food but didn’t experience great service, however this time it was completely different. We had a great table right in the centre of the vibrant hub of the restaurant with a view of open kitchen. The staff were attentive and friendly and overall we had a much better experience.

We started with a couple of my favourites; a seafood salad which was beautifully prepared and served with a light olive oil…perfect for dipping that crusty bread in. I’d definitely missed bread…and wine…I’d had the odd glass of bubbly over the past two months but I hadn’t had a glass wine since we’d been in Singapore
We also ordered a tuna tartar to start, it was enjoyable but I prefer raw tuna served in meaty chunks whereas as this version was minced and it was a little under seasoned but the beautiful freshness of the fish still came through in the flavour.
Next we shared a small portion of seafood pasta, with perfectly made pasta and succulent, juicy clams that were complimented wonderfully with a very light sauce of olive oil, garlic and chilli.

We were presented with our whole grilled sea bass that was filleted table side…
The flesh of the fish was cooked just right and we chose sides of grilled vegetables and a tomato onion salad, so I didn’t feel too guilty about breaking my healthy eating regime early!
Mr S was determined not to let me order tiramisu as he didn’t want me moaning about how guilty I felt the next day so we virtuously finished the meal with a platter of fruit. As a food blogger it’s important for me to keep a balance between healthy eating and going out but sometimes you just need a cheat night…and tucking into a few delicious carbs at Novikov was the perfect place to have it!