Updated 25/4/18 with image
What: alto
In a nutshell: Selfridges gets a new Italian rooftop restaurant
Summing it all up: Building on their partnership in other locations, Selfridges' Oxford Street store is the latest to get into bed with the San Carlo restaurant group who'll be launching Alto in the store's iconic rooftop space.
The low-down
For the past four years Des McDonald Restaurants have been running things in the rooftop space at Selfridges, but now it's all change up on the fifth floor. Opening there next week will be Alto, a new Italian restaurant in partnership with the San Carlo restaurant group.
This isn't the first restaurant the two companies have opened together. San Carlo already have a couple of restaurants in each of the Selfridges in Manchester and Birmingham. But the London restaurant has the added bonus of that gorgeous open rooftop and terrace.
And it certainly sounds like it's going to be rather beautiful. The minute you step out of the lift you'll wander through a corridor lined with greenery and Italian chinotto fruit. Out on the terrace itself there'll be a bar offering cocktails, wines, champagnes, beers and soft drinks.
As Marcello Distefano, managing director of the San Carlo Group explains; “Whether heading to the bar on the terrace or dining in the restaurant, we want people to feel like they’ve escaped the city to discover a real celebration of the best in Italian food, service and style.”
As you'd expect, the menu is an all Italian affair so there'll be dishes like;
- Fillet of seabass cooked in black volcanic salt from Mount Etna
- Sicily roasted shellfish sharer for two featuring king prawns, scallops, mussels, clams and langoustines
- Pea and scallop risotto
- Spaghetti lobster
- Tagliata of beef – grilled fillet steak marinated in chilli and garlic, topped with rocket and parmesan
You might not fit into the fashion floors' finest downstairs if you tuck into their sfogliatella but it sounds worth a few bust zips - the shell-shaped dessert features layers of Italian pastry filled with sweet ricotta cheese, candied orange pieces, topped with gelato and finished with a special, secret recipe pistachio sauce.
More about alto
Where is it? Selfridges Roof Top, 400 Oxford Street, London W1A 1AB (there's an express lift to the rooftop in the Fragrance Hall on the ground floor).
When does it open? 26 April 2018
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Twitter at @selfridgesfood
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