when:
26 October
where:
Andrew’s
160 Gray’s Inn Rd
London WC1 (map)
spaghetti:
all’Amatriciana
chef:
Arcangelo Dandini
cost:
£55 (wine from Italy’s Lazio region is complimentary)
Many insiders regard the spaghetti all’amatriciana of Arcangelo Dandini as the best in Rome. On the 26th of October it will be the best in London.
For one night only young&foodish brings the great Roman chef to London for a SpagWednesday pop-up. To transport his cherished alla matriciana from the white linens of L’Arcangelo, his restaurant on the Via Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli, to the Formica tabletops of a London greasy spoon he will rely on London’s Melograno Deli to source for him the finest Italian pasta, cheeses, cured meats and fine foods and Andreas Fine Fruit & Vegetables to import his tomatoes – pomodori a grappolo and pomodoro di pachino – and other produce.
“My cooking is about memory,” says the fourth-generation restaurateur and author of Memoria a Mozzichi (Morsels of Memory). “For me food is connected to the memories and aromas of my territory and the quality of the outcome is completely linked to the quality of the raw ingredients.”
Many believe alla matriciana comes directly from the town of Amatrice, as the name of the classic pasta sauce made with peperoncino, tomatoes, Pecorino Romano and guanciale (rich, buttery, Roman bacon prepared with pig’s jowls) suggests. But Dandini explains the pasta from Amatrice is made without tomatoes – what the Romans called pasta alla gricia.
“Since many people from Amatrice settled in Rome it was only natural that their recipes be adapted and changed and in Rome,” notes Dandini, a pope of pasta to adoring Roman foodies. “The white sauce became red with the addition of tomatoes.”
POP-UP MENU
benvenuto dello chef
frittata with pecorino & aromatic herbs
suppli’
potato croquette with anchovy
almond brittle with colatura di alici
spaghetti alla matriciana
white chocolate soup with capers and olive oil
The pop-up dinner will be served in 5 overlapping sittings beginning at 6:45pm, 7:15pm, 7:45pm, 8:15pm and 8:45pm. Each sitting will last between 1 1/2 and 2 hours.
