Chef Claude Bosi’s masterful touch can be felt at Socca in Mayfair, but sadly not in everything
Socca, 41a South Audley Street, London W1K 2PS (020 3376 0000). Small plates £9-£35, pasta dishes £18-£48, mains £25-£66, desserts £12, wines from £47
Fancy Mayfair restaurants are full of older people wearing young people’s shirts. Every night these tables are a study in the abject fear of mortality. Bring on the Botox and the fillers and the inappropriate piped music they’re pretending to like. Add to that list the newly opened Socca bistro. It’s not cheap, in the way the Himalayas are not flat and Boris Johnson is not honest. A salade Niçoise is £26. The lamb chops are £52. The cheapest bottle of wine is £47 (available retail for £11.20). To be able to pay these prices comfortably, you are likely to have reached a certain age.
