NEWS & REVIEWS // NEWS & REVIEWS OF AVISTA RESTAURANT

MASTERCHEF IN MAYFAIR

Avista proudly opened it's doors to the team from MasterChef last September and 5 months later, last Wednesday 24th March 2010, it finally made our screens and was viewed by 4.62million!!!!!

WELL DONE TO CHEF MICHELE AND THE AVISTA TEAM and a special thank you to PR Annie McKale for organising!

The episode featuring Avista in the current series is no longer available to view via BBC's iPlayer, however we hope to be providing a clip to be viewed online soon.

Opera @ Avista

Another successful Opera evening was hosted at Avista last Friday. Opera d'Amici performed a selection of arias and duets from the world's famous operas and operettas, including many of the following: La Traviata - Verdi, La Boheme - Puccini, My Fair Lady - Rogers & Hammerstein, Les Miserables - Schonberg and many, many more.

70 guests dined in style and had a fabulous evening with Opera d' Amici mingling with guests, dancing with some ensuring that everyone had a wonderful time. They as usual received a standing ovation.

The last event was attended by Opera Star Jonathan Ansell who kindly hosted our charity raffle with over £500.00 being donated to Classic FM Young Music Makers.

Watch this space for next date!!!

View our Opera @ Avista Gallery

Wine Tasting With a Difference

A successful evening was hosted at Avista pairing the senses of taste and smell - our guests were asked to indulge their senses in the art of matching wines with fragrances. Beautiful perfumes from Miller Harris are matched very cleverly with Wines and Champagnes from Avista Cellars, providing a unique and heady experience for our diners!

View our Wine Tasting With a Difference Gallery

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.