Light house's family
Before arriving in England from his native Italy six years ago, Gianni Vatteroni, head chef at one of Wimbledon Village's newest restaurants, had never cooked anything other than Italian food. Now his repertoire has expanded to encompass Thai, Japanese, Spanish and Moroccan too.
The fusion elements of the menu at the 76-seat restaurant, Light House, result from Vatteroni's working stints in recent years at London's Sugar Club, Moro and Union Café. He points to Peter Gordon, formerly at Sugar Club, as master of the genre and his mentor.
"London is the best place to be working as a chef at the moment," says Vatteroni, who works with a multinational team of six chefs. "Here you can get any type of ingredient from any part of the world and learn all sorts of different techniques; whereas, in Italy, ginger is only just becoming available in supermarkets."
At Light House, different cultures will be combined in one dish "but only when there is a balance and harmony between ingredients and flavours," says Vatteroni. For example, one of the antipasto dishes puts together Spanish montenebro cheese on Italian bruschetta and serves it with piquillo peppers, caperberries, baba ghanoush (a North African dip made from chargrilled aubergines blended with garlic, tahini, lemon juice and spices) and Greek olives (£6.50).
Another antipasto - a deep-fried prawn ravioli - is considered by Vatteroni to be his signature dish. The ravioli is served on sautéd porcini and oyster mushrooms with grilled nori (£6.90) and, according to Vatteroni, "it sums up what this restaurant is all about".
Main courses include venison in a black bean and ginger marinade, grilled rare and served with spinach, a julienne of carrots and celeriac and rocket pesto (£15.50); and roast dorade royale on wok-fried bok choy, wild rice cake and roast yuzu plums (£12.50).
Among the side dishes on offer are balsamic roasted red onions with wild rocket, deep-fried ratte potatoes with smoked paprika, and wok-fried green beans and spinach, all priced at £2.75.
The fusion theme continues through to desserts, where Italian techniques and Japanese flavours are combined to produce the likes of stem ginger and Japanese green tea semi-freddo (£4.75). One of the best sellers is black pepper cheesecake with strawberries macerated in Amontillado sherry and sugar (£4.75).
The à la carte menu, which changes about every three weeks and has an average spend per head of £30 excluding drinks, is supplemented by a lunch menu (£12.50 for two courses) offering a choice of three dishes at each course. Kate Sim, who designed the restaurant on behalf of owners Bob Finch and Ian Taylor, runs front of house.
Light House, 75-77 Ridgway, Wimbledon, London SW19. Tel: 020 8944 6338
