Chris Leach and David Carter have done it for 10 Heddon Street, Marc Summers and Helen Graham have done it for Bubala, and now Jay Patel (former Barrafina and Koya City GM) and chef Matt Beardmore (ex-Trullo) are the latest dynamic duo to team up for a new restaurant. There’s is the super cute Legare which has just opened in Shad Thames, and is all about seasonal produce, fresh pasta and low-intervention wine.
The cobbled streets and old warehouses of Shad Thames is one of our favourites bits of London, and Legare fits right in. It’s a simple understated space with white walls, an open kitchen and plain wooden furniture and benches. Keeping it simple is the order of the day in the kitchen too and when it’s done this well, we’re more than ok with that.
To start, we loved the Stracciatella with sobrasada, oregano, served with thick slices of grilled bread and the gnocco fritto, warm pillows of fried dough that you stuff with mortadella. We could eat that all day.
Fresh pastas are the star of the show, however, and the particular highlight for us was the orecchiette with fennel sausage & cavolo nero ragu; the stracci with crab, chilli & pangrattato wasn’t far behind though. A dessert of chocolate cremeux with a tooth shattering hazelnut brittle was another simple but satisfying dish.
All of this is complemented by a tight wine list of natural and low intervention bottles, mainly coming from Italy. And if you spy a bottle you really like or you take a fancy to the olive oil, Legare also sells some products for you to take home.
Cardamom Building, 31G Shad Thames, London SE1 2YB
legarelondon.com