Rigatoni meets mapo tofu: Cafe Murano x Black Axe Mangal
Five days of the summer's most unlikely double act
For five days in August, two very different London kitchens are sharing a menu. Cafe Murano x Black Axe Mangal runs from Wednesday 5 to Sunday 9 August across all four Cafe Murano sites: rigatoni with fennel sausage and mouth numbing mushroom mapo tofu, shrimp and sesame encrusted chicken Milanese with bitter leaves and XO sauce, and a Neapolitan parfait with Frangelico cream, hazelnut praline and hundreds and thousands.
The collaboration is not on All Set, we just think you should book it, and bookings are recommended. What is on All Set, as of this week, is Cafe Murano's Summer Set Menu at every site: two courses for £25 or three for £29, Monday to Saturday, at lunch, early evening and again from 9pm. Throughout August it comes with a complimentary glass of English sparkling wine.
01 · Cafe Murano St James's
St James's
The original, steps from Green Park, with the £25 summer set.
The St James's Street original is the polished one, a marble bar and a Northern Italian menu that has made it a West End fixture. The Summer Set Menu runs two courses for £25 or three for £29, Monday to Saturday, from steamed mussels with citrus butter to cavatelli with fennel sausage. During the collaboration week the special menu runs here too.
02 · Cafe Murano Covent Garden
Covent Garden
A raftered Tavistock Street room made for pre-theatre.
Under a striking timber-trussed roof on Tavistock Street, the Covent Garden site is the one to book around a show. The same summer set applies, and the early-evening window from 5pm to 7pm is tailor-made for curtain-up. Breaded sardines with Nonna's potato salad, then a white peach granita, and you are out in time for the stalls.
03 · Cafe Murano Bermondsey
Bermondsey
The Bermondsey Street newcomer, booths, tiles and cavatelli.
The newest room of the four, all glossy tiles and snug booths on Bermondsey Street. It brings the same summer set south of the river: two courses £25, three £29, with the 9pm-onwards window a gift for late finishers around London Bridge.
04 · Cafe Murano Marylebone
Marylebone
The Dorset Street dining room, terracotta walls and a £25 set.
Marylebone's site is the neighbourhood one, terracotta walls, marble-topped tables and a painting of two very good dogs. Same deal: two courses £25 or three £29, Monday to Saturday, and through August every set comes with that complimentary glass of English sparkling.
Five days of the collab, a summer of the £25 set. All four Cafe Muranos are now on All Set, bookable direct.