REVIEWS // REVIEWS OF AVISTA AT 39 GROSVENOR SQUARE

AVISTA awarded 2 AA Rosettes

"We are absolutely delighted to announce that AVISTA has been awarded 2 AA Rosettes from the prestigious AA Food Guide.

"This is a wonderful achievement after only been open a few months and a reward for the consistency, hard work and determination to achieve the highest culinary excellence and service standards."

"Well done Chef Michele and the team."

In London Magazine

"Veneto-born chef Michele Granziera, formerly of Zafferano, is quietly doing some wonderful things at this Mayfair eatery.

"Drawing inspiration from across Italy, Granziera serves up such delights as crab salad with papaya and avocado to start and a sublime slow-cooked pork cheek as a main. The service is discreet and the décor beautiful."

London Hotels & Restaurants - MICHELIN GUIDE 2009

"Avista occupies the generous space within the Millennium Hotel that was previously farmed out to Brian Turner.

"Not only have they softened the room but they've also added a separate street entrance which helps in establishing the restaurant's identity, despite the best efforts of the intrusively anodyne music. Veneto born Chef Michele Granziera, a Zafferano alumnus, has created a menu that traverses Italy and marries the rustic with the more refined. There are dishes designed for sharing as well as pre-starter 'snacks' if you really can't wait. The homemade pastas are a particular highlight, while the kitchen's creativity is given full rein on the 'Surprise' seven course menu which is available at dinner."

Tatler Restaurant Guide 2009

"This new Italian is a lot more fun that its predecessor on this site, Brian Turner's rather lifeless 'Brit'.

"First of all, Avista looks beautiful, with its walls of exposed brickwork, travertine marble floors and taupe leather sofa banquettes – understand luxe. And then there is the service – thoroughly kind and bend-over-backwards to please. But what you will enjoy here the most is Michelle Granziera's cucina – he comes from Zafferano and it shows in the risotto with porcini, stewed baby octopus with soft polenta, veal shank, exquisite tiramisu (described as 'Italian cheesecake'), delicious wines – especially the whites from Friuli and Alto Adige. It has a great bar too – it makes a stylish alternative to the nearby Connaught or Claridge's."

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, London Lite, 19th November 2008

"Swanky central London hotel restaurants tend to be as intimate as airport departure lounges, so I didn't have particularly high hopes for Avista, based in Mayfair's Millennium Hotel.

"However, aside from the name, which sounds off-puttingly like a hopeful team from The Apprentice, Avista is streets ahead of its peers.

"For starters I went for a lush and velvety dry-cured beef bresaola with rocket, goat’s cheese, caramelised onions and walnuts (£10). The date went for an octopus salad with pimento, pigna beans and roast peppers (£9.50). Both dishes were surprisingly hearty, boldly doing the classic Italian thing of allowing simple, top-quality ingredients to speak for themselves.

"Mains took a while coming, but the date's beautifully cooked rack of lamb with tapenade, Swiss chard and cute little mushrooms (£24.50) was worth the wait. And if my excellent pan-fried sea bass with artichokes (£23.50) still left me hungry, I soon filled the hole with dessert.

"You had to love the way ´hot chocolate foam with raspberries and ginger´ (£6.50) sounded ever so dainty and light but was in fact a lagoon of milk chocolate around a chilled, but gorgeously gooey, dark chocolate core"

To read the full review please visit: This Is London's website.