I tried ‘iconic’ New York Italian restaurant that’s opened in Scotland - it's a little slice of the big apple
The invite-only New York restaurant has opened for a limited time only, and for the first time, in Scotland.
In the basement of a luxury Scottish hotel, you’ll find a little slice of New York, where it’s permanently Christmas. The stylishly luxe Marine and Lawn Rusacks hotel is known for its bold and sleek interior design but, for only a few months, its One Up Bar on the lower ground level has been transformed into Rao’s, an invite-only New York Italian restaurant.
On arrival, it’s like stepping into another world, as the bar space has been transformed with gallery walls of old pictures, dark wooden booth seating, crisp white tables, red leather bar stools and Christmas wreaths, string lights and a Santa on the bar. This homely, cosy feel is right out of Harlem, where the original restaurant has been located since it opened in 1896. As for the decorations? It’s all part of the charm and never-changing design of this, one of New York’s most exclusive restaurants.
It only takes a few minutes to forget that we’re in a five star hotel in Fife, as the hustle and bustle of a Friday night service in Rao’s is well under way, with a queue out the door waiting by the host stand to be seated. So far, all very New York. If it wasn’t for our young and very much Scottish and English waiting staff, it’d be very easy to completely lose sense of place.
The original Rao’s has remained a family-run business for nearly 130 years and is celebrated for its authentic Southern Italian cuisine and this uniquely intimate, legendary atmosphere. The restaurant is famed for its 10 tables, each ‘owned’ by generations of regulars or auctioned for charity, making reservations extremely hard to come by.
Thankfully this pop-up has a lot more tables, but the menu is a true representation of the New York restaurant, which specialises in family-style dining. The antipasti options include: Caviar served on buckwheat blinis with creme fraiche; Antipasto chopped salad of chopped green lettuce, cucumber, fennel, radicchio, red online, tomatoes, genoa salami, sharp provolone and Rao’s house dressing and roasted red peppers and burrata served with Italian parsley, golden raisins, pine nuts and evoo.
While all this looks and sounds wonderful, I defy any meat eaters not to immediately order the ‘iconic’ Rao’s meatballs. These are simply ground beef, breadcrumbs and seasoning with pecorino romano served with a marinara sauce. Our waiter assured us that to share them would be fine as “they’re the size of your fist,” which they were indeed. Beautifully tender, they were exactly what you’d want from a classic Italian dish with a tomato sauce that was well seasoned.
The Primi section of the menu has four classic pasta dishes, including: Salsa All Marinara a family recipe san marzano tomato sauce served with fresh basil and a choice of pasta; Veal Ragu, braised veal with herbs, pecorino romano and casarecce; and Penne Vodka served with san marzano tomato, cream and vodka. We opted to share the Lobster Fra Diavolo, which had chunky lobster tail in a spicy marinara sauce with a choice of pasta, of which we chose linguini. The rich sweetness of the lobster was cut through by the spicy, but not too much, sauce making this a comforting and decadent meal.
From the Secondi dishes we shared the parmesan aubergine, which was flattened and breaded and served covered in stringy melted mozzarella and parmesan cheese and topped with marinara sauce. I love aubergine, and my mum makes a cracking aubergine parmesan (which I hate to say it was better than this) but I realise it can be tasteless. Not so here thanks to the cheese and that classic sauce, which is the backbone of a lot of the dishes at Rao’s. Sides of pancetta and peas and sliced, crisp rosemary potatoes were excellent additions, if not as classic Italian as the rest of the meal.
In sharing, we had room for two desserts - a classic toasted pistachio ice cream, served in an old school dish and with a wonderful deep nutty taste and velvet texture - and a traditional baked New York cheesecake, which was light and sweet and very moreish.
Rao’s is a real tribute to old fashioned New York dining and it was a joy to experience it in Scotland, especially as it’s highly unlikely many will be able to do so in its original destination. The food and atmosphere were great, fun and relaxed. The only nod to the five star location though are the prices, which may bring many back down to earth quickly. But for a one-off, and different experience, it’s worth the big apple spend.
Rao’s dinner-only restaurant will run until mid-October and reservations are highly recommended. Find out more and book via the Rusacks website.
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