In the shadow of Battersea Power Station, TOZI Grand Cafe is fuelled by fine food

They say that the best infrastructures and institutions stand on pillars. Take Battersea Power Station, for example. An industrial icon of the London landscape, the recently renovated site wears its pillars for all of the city to see — towering columns; chimneys that define the riverside region and coax in visitors from Barnes to Bermondsey.

Sitting beside the station, the area’s newest Italian restaurant stands on similar — if more metaphorical — pillars. And, at TOZI Grand Cafe, this quartet of quality, fine-dining values can be seen plated up on every unctuous, flavourful dish. Earlier this month, we headed south of the river to sample some of the best fare on offer — and learn more about the pillars and principles on which the eatery stands.

The first of these principles is innovation. Across the entire menu, Executive Head Chef, Lee Streeton, a member of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, and TOZI Victoria’s Head Chef, Maurilio Molteni, display a playfulness that you wouldn’t usually associate with such an upscale environment.

And this ingenuity and invention is at its most potent in TOZI’s cocktail collection. The spritzes — from Torbato to Rosato — brim with flavours, but it’s the Negroni selection that really ups the subverting stakes. Our recommendation would the Olive Oil Negroni, a classic cocktail infused for seven days in luscious olive oil. It’s got the spirited kick of the original, but with an even rounder, creamier mouthfeel.

The next tenet upon which TOZI Grand Cafe stands is ingredients. The meat, particularly, is of remarkable taste and provenance — sourced from the award-winning Hannan Meats in County Kildare. But the best produce, and the area in which the food’s quality is most sumptuously on show, can be found in the seafood section.

The Octopus, Chickpea Puree and Fried Capers has the meaty bite of the driest-aged steak — but with a burst of salty flavour and freshness. The Baked Scallop and Nduja takes things in a different, but equally delicious direction, drowning a single shellfish in a gently warming, spiced crumb. It’s a treat.

Which brings us to our third pillar; tradition. There’s nothing more exciting than finding a restaurant that does classic, timeless plates incredibly well. And, while the TOZI team are exceedingly talented when innovating, and putting their own singular spins on dishes, they also know when to row back and defer to decades (even centuries) of established recipes.

The examples of this are too numerous to list, but we did try the Burrata, Caponata, Black Olives and Basil and the Veal and Pork Meatballs — both of which were utterly transportive. If you weren’t acutely aware of the power station’s looming chimneys, and the restaurant’s chic glass construction, you could have been in a rural trattoria (especially with those meatballs, which swim in a tomato sauce that bobs with sweet melt-in-the-mouth garlic).

This tradition extends to the dessert menu, where the Pistachio Tiramisu makes for a perfect, green-dusted conclusion to an opulent meal. And this, in turn, introduces the fourth of those all-important values; luxury. Because, while sustainably-sourced ingredients and the balance between innovation and tradition are all well and good, they mean nothing if a high-end restaurant can’t convert them into a lush, lavish dining experience.

Thankfully, another dessert — the celestial Gianduiotto Tart — is decadence on a plate. Rich, toothsome and tempered with a slight touch of salt, it’s utter indulgence. Another dish we sampled, the Buffalo Ricotta Ravioli with Black Truffle, had a similarly overwhelming effect. But this simply serves to illustrate the importance of an institution’s principles — and how, if you cook in line with your convictions, that’s when you create a place everyone wants to take their tastebuds.

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