From the Scottish langoustine tartare with Amalfi lemon oil and smoked Anglesey salt to the red snapper with pear and Calabrian chilli, Azzurra, Sloane Street’s new seafood restaurant, is an ode to British seafood and Italian coastal cuisine and the neighbourhood’s hottest new place to be seen.
Created by international restaurateur David Yeo and Aqua Restaurant Group, the restaurant was inspired by Yeo’s travels through Italy and his love for the culinary culture centred around Sicily and the storied Amalfi Coast. The menu is centred on his ‘boat to table’ philosophy, which puts the best of sustainably sourced British seafood at the heart of the offering, all prepared with Italian elegance and simplicity.
Yeo said the concept for Azzurra came about as a way to alleviate the challenges faced by Britain’s sustainable fishing industry because of Covid and Brexit. “We have the best seafood around, which really should be given the respect [it deserves] and treated very simply,” he said at the restaurant’s opening. “When you’ve got good produce, you don’t need to do very much to it.”
With the exception of deep-sea fish that is sourced from Italy, Yeo said that to ensure that only the best of British seafood is served at Azzurra, his team has worked with suppliers to ensure the freshest fish possible. “I can tell you literally that if it’s mackerel [on the menu] today, I know which boat it’s coming from and I’ve got the suppliers’ promise that it’s actually going to be on the table within 12 hours.”
The light-filled space has been brought to life by Yeo and acclaimed hospitality designer Robert Angell, and features a striking 16-metre bar that runs the length of the restaurant.
At one end is a raw bar stocked with the freshest seafood and shellfish. At the other end: a pizza counter serving thin-crust pizzas, including the Astice Davide, an Azzurra signature with medallions of lobster tail, bottarga and lemon zest and the Incontro, topped with Puglian burrata, mortadella, Bronte pistachio and Campania buffalo mozzarella. Between them is a glowing cocktail bar where talented mixologists craft an array of signature cocktails.
The dining room itself is decorated in tones of Mediterranean blue, with English oak-topped tables, nautically striped banquettes, and light projections that recall the shimmering of summer sunlight on water. Emphasising the restaurant’s commitment to British seafood, rope nets are suspended from the ceiling and intricately woven ropes form a decorative column.
At the back of the restaurant, Azzurra’s private dining room is a nod to old fishing boats with its roughly painted wooden walls and ceilings. And, outside, there are terrace tables beneath a striped awning for al fresco dining in clement weather.
Driving home the ‘Ahoy, me hearties’ vibe is a statement staircase that descends ‘below deck’ to the bathrooms, where there are penny tiles, porthole mirrors and brass seahorse coat hooks.
The kitchen is captained by Azzurra’s executive chef, Andrea Mura, a Sardinian native, who has put two seasonal seafood platters at the heart of his antipasti menu, alongside an affettati misti of swordfish ‘pancetta’, red tuna ‘bresaola’, amberjack ‘ham’, and seabass ‘nduja’.
The selection of perfectly prepared pasta and risotto dishes includes a seafood carbonara with mussels, clams, tuna, prawns and seabass or linguine with handpicked crab, butter, chilli, lemon and Sicilian bottarga. Each pasta is finished with a splash of its own specially curated extra fine virgin olive oil from selected estates in Italy.
Among the standout main courses are a roasted stone bass with oyster-stuffed zucchini flower, homemade gnocchi and shellfish bisque, and the catch of the day, roasted to perfection and served simply with salsa verde and Sicilian caponata. Not a fish fan? Fear not, there’s a pollo Milanese and a T-bone steak as alternatives.
Try to leave a bit of room for the exceptional tiramisu, which is served table-side from a trolley in either classic, pistachio or hazelnut variations.
On weekends, Azzurra is open for Italian-style brunch from 10:30am-3pm, served family-style, with unlimited antipasti, a main course per person and a dessert platter for the table (£55 per person), making it an ideal place to settle in for long lunches with family or friends.
In the evenings, drop in for a cocktail or aperitivo at the bar before an intimate dinner or joyful celebration, set to a soundtrack mixed by guest DJs.
Book now to experience Chelsea’s exceptional new dining destination.
Azzurra, 127-128 Sloane Street, SW1X 9AS
