With a motto of “bring everyone, eat everything” Tutto aims to recreate the inclusive, celebratory atmosphere of traditional Italian dining. But does that “everyone” include vegans?
Following high praise for the energy and creativity that their restaurants have brought to the Brighton food scene, the Black Rock Restaurant Group (responsible for Burnt Orange, The Salt Room and The Coal Shed) have opened a new Italian venture on Marlborough Place. Launched in autumn 2022, Tutto is a small plates restaurant that provides a different perspective on Italy’s ever-popular dishes. In a city replete with spag bol-centric crowd-pleasing Italian restaurants – Donatello, Pinocchio, etc. – it’s refreshing to hear of an attempt to showcase the more nuanced aspects of the country’s cuisine.
Perhaps preparing pizza fans for its slightly more off-piste fusiony approach, Tutto presents itself as “an Italian-inspired experience”. In a now-familiar tapas-like menu scheme, it’s suggested that three or four plates each should suffice, but we can always order more if we want to. And it’s a fun way to dine. Food should be about sharing. Envy for a dish you wish you ordered should be a thing of the past. To which end Tutto offer their ‘Taste of Tutto’ set sharing menus in either carnivore or vegetarian incarnations, £38.50 or £35 per person respectively. This selection of nine small plates runs the gamut from focaccia, pasta and burrata to salads, carpaccios and parmigianas. The a la carte menu offers all these plates and more for a customised experience.
This review, however, takes the POV of two vegans, one of whom (me, a tourist in the land of veganism for the night) is also gluten intolerant. Perhaps stretching the classical Italian cuisine umbrella to its full outer limits, this is a perspective to be taken with a pinch of salt for those not limited by such dietary requirements. But the good news is Tutto is indeed a very accommodating broad culinary church.
After a chat with our smiley and attentive waitress, who happily guides us through the options, we don’t wait long before our table is soon pleasingly full of plates and aperitivi. As I sip a glamorous blood orange Negroni Frizzante, my fellow diner sings high praises of the focaccia that arrives first.
It’s the ideal vehicle for an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip, and the crispy, golden-topped slabs have an irregular crumb structure that attests to a perfect proving. The theme is set for a meal focused on simple flavour pairings that really makes the most of the building blocks of cookery.
A salad of blood orange and yellow beetroot is an exercise in letting ingredients sing. When the yellow beet’s sweet earthiness and the blood orange’s citrus richness are mixed with oil the result is pure indulgence. The artichokes, fennel, walnut trapanese and olives produce a salty, acidic, more complex mélange of flavours, with the walnuts offering a satisfying crunch. It’s worth remembering that the generous helping of trapanese (an Italian version of tapenade) can be perfectly mopped up with any leftover focaccia.
However, since this is the kind of food where you can taste every ingredient, it stands out when they don’t quite live up to their full potential. In a dish like the tomato carpaccio (with roasted chilli oil and capers), the tomato should have a star-like quality – a special variety or at least at the height of seasonality – but these, though thoughtfully dressed, are the slightly uninspiring kind you might find in a humble side salad.
The tenderstem fritto, on the other hand, is a transformative triumph. Deep fried in a crispy rice-based tempura-like batter and sprinkled with salt, lemon and shallots, the broccoli is deliciously yielding, heralding a new dawn for the much maligned soft broccoli so often viewed as a culinary mishap. This dish is a must if you go to Tutto. I’m still salivating at the thought of it days later. For a fully vegan and gluten-free creation it doesn’t feel like anything has been substituted here, which should always be the goal.
The wood-fired baked aubergine could’ve been given more love and attention. Though there’s plenty of attractive char and the crumb gives a tasty savoury crunch, the texture and subtle flavour of the aubergine itself needs elevation. Equally, the slow-cooked tomato sauce in which it reclines hasn’t been given long enough to develop its full richness. The gluten-free penne with peas, kale, hazelnuts, lemon and olive oil is perfectly serviceable for GF pasta, but the flavouring could’ve packed more of a punch. With the lack of cheese there needs to be something else in there to make it feel like a treat.
However, for those with dietary requirements, it must be said the staff are all knowledgeable and more than happy to guide you through the options and make substitutions. Our waitress’s dessert suggestion of a vegan affogato alternative consisting of a scoop of lemon sorbet in a lake of limoncello was inspired and should be on the menu. Where the traditional affogato quickly becomes coffee and ice cream soup, this boozy lemon invention hangs around and keeps on giving.
Cocktail fans are also very well catered for with an extensive drinks menu that includes aperitivi, a selection of negronis, non-alcoholic cocktails and after-dinner cocktails. Our meal is brought to a hazy send off with the latter. Our La Dolce Vita, made from Rittenhouse Rye, apricot liqueur, allspice dram and peach bitters is a giddy adult sweetshop of a drink. Meanwhile, the Ciliegia Manhattan packs a syrupy punch and there’s a deliciously soused cherry to fish out at the end.
The drinks are all prepared out of the corner of our eyes at a warmly uplit bar that seems teleported from the seventies. You can almost see a cloud of cigarette smoke emanating from the glamorous Guccified patrons of its imagined past. With an orange-tinted Mediterranean colour scheme, there’s a cosy, welcoming atmosphere to Tutto. It’s bustling yet romantic and clearly directed with a passion for creating a memorable dining experience. Even if some of the dishes don’t quite dazzle tonight, the menus are constantly evolving from season to season, demonstrating a passion for food that any foodie – vegan or omnivore, Italian or otherwise – will no doubt approve of.
Tutto, 20-22 Marlborough Pl, Brighton, BN1 1UB
Open Monday – Saturday 12-3:30pm, 5-10pm, Sundays 12-9pm
www.tutto-restaurant.co.uk
Words by Thom Punton
Photos by the author and David Charbitt
