What: Saucy
In a nutshell: Pasta with a twist
Summing it all up: Dublin chef sets her sights on London with this Tottenham Court Road pasta bar that has a distinctly healthy range of options
The cafe where you can sub pasta with spiralised veg...
Tottenham Court Road has seen a lot of new restaurants and cafes opening there over the past year. But look out this summer for a rather interesting new pasta bar with a twist, Saucy. The key twist being, that you can replace the pasta in any of their dishes with a spiralised vegetable instead.
The chef involved is Grainne O Keefe who, as the Irish Times explains has a very interesting background in Dublin restaurants. She's been a chef in Dublin for 9 years, currently working in Bastible restaurant (run by ex-Harwood Arms and Etto chef Barry FitzGerald) and will be starting a new Head Chef position in a brand new restaurant opening in Dublin in August this year.
Grainne has teamed up with British friend George Wells who's just back in the UK from a spell in Melbourne playing cricket. "We both agreed London's the perfect city to launch our first restaurant," Grainne told Hot Dinners. "For George, opening in London was always the plan. He knows the market and the area well, and it’s his home. Personally, I’ve always been drawn to London’s amazing food scene, and we feel as though Saucy belongs here."
So what's going to be on the menu? "Our lunch menu is a blend of classic Italian pasta dishes, with some more modern elements thrown in, using less conventional ingredients. The menu consists of a 3-step process, in which the customer will choose which pasta to match with their sauce, and finally pick from a range of optional additions.
"To accompany our lunch menu, we have both artisan cheese and charcuterie boards that our customers have the options of taking away."
Saucy will be open from breakfast, serving up protein balls, bircher muesli and natural yoghurts as well as in-house smoothies, juices and their own granola. "We know from personal experience that a good cup of coffee is like gold dust," says Grainne. "We did a lot of research to find the best possible supplier, and have teamed up with specialty coffee roasters, Mission Coffee Works."
As for that pasta, it'll be made on site every day with options like squid ink linguine and a gluten free pasta option too. The site itself has room for 30 to eat in or take away. Sauces might be njuja with tomato and basil or beef ragu or maybe a more healthy avo, sundried tomato and cashew nut pesto.
More about Saucy
Where: 52 Tottenham Court Road, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 2EH
When: Opens mid-late August 2017
Opening hours: 7am-9pm (to be confirmed)
How to book: Walk-ins only
Keep up with their news on Instagram & Twitter @saucyldn
