Italian
Osteria Vibrato, the new restaurant from Charlie Mellor (he of Laughing Heart fame) has opened on Greek Street, in the heart of Soho. Named in honour of Charlie’s opera-singing background, the restaurant, much like The Three Tenors, brings together two more hospo legends: sommelier Cameron Dewar (ex-Luca) and Burro e Salvia founder Gaia Enria, who consulted on the project. Before you begin, there’s a cover charge of £3 per person, which gets you a small plate of olives, crisp bread and regular bread (which is excellent by the way). We also loved the seafood fritto misto, the Sicilian red prawns, the cotechino sausage with plum and swede, and the ribollita. The ricotta tortelli with tomato and butter, and the tagliatelle with white courtyard ragu are both excellent too. With Cameron’s background, you know the wine list is going to be good – it even features the grower champagne he served at his wedding. Overall, the food is brilliant, wines are great, and its energy is on point. Be warned though: like all operas, when it peaks, it’s loud.
Tiella Trattoria is the newly opened bricks-and-mortar site from Dara Klein, a progression of her successful Compton Arms pop-up in 2024. Right now, the menu has quite a few of the classics from the pop-up days, and we’re not complaining. The anchovies in saor, the beef tartare, the tria with cime di rapa and pangrattato, and the chicken Milanese are all highlights, and the ricotta is 100% a must order. Desserts, including a bay leaf panna cotta with rhubarb in Campari, and a chocolate torta caprese with amarena cherries and crème fraîche, are exceptional. Honestly you can’t really put a foot wrong with this menu. There are some fun cocktails and a decent wine list with a strong Italian focus. Tiella 2.0 has kept the building’s original pub bar too, so you can even pop in for a glass and a snack. Dara has smashed it with the second coming of Tiella. She’s managed to retain about 75% of the pop-up, from the menu to the pub surroundings and the vibe, but taken it all up to the next level.
The Rum Kitchen co-founder Stevie Thomas and ex-Manteca chef Francesco Sarvonio have teamed up to transform old Clapton pub The Elephant’s Head into a southern Italian restaurant specialising in Neapolitan pizza. At Elephant Hackney, Francesco’s menu blends regional Italian traditions with seasonal British produce, resulting in dishes like frittatina with peas and basil; ox cheek croquettes with anchovy mayo; buffalo mozzarella with tomato carpaccio; fried courgette flowers with spicy honey aioli; Elephant Marinara pizza with caper leaves and confit garlic; La Squisita pizza with pancetta and squacquerone; house tiramisu; and fried lavender donut with Amalfi lemon custard. Just as much attention has been paid to the building itself, with David Shrigley prints, vintage Italian film posters and a Dumbo piece inside the dining room, which is bathed in natural light from a 25-year-old skylight salvaged from an old East End cinema.
The team behind Angelina in Dalston has opened a new sister restaurant called Osteria Angelina, in the Norton Folgate development down near Liverpool Street. Having found widespread praise for their Italian-Japanese fusion in Dalston, the team are looking to take that to a new City crowd with Osteria. But whereas the Dalston original is centred around a set Kaiseki menu, Osteria is more casual with a simple menu of a la carte dishes served in a lovely converted warehouse space. The menu is split into salads; crudo; fritti; pasta; grilled dishes; sides; and desserts. Must-orders from the early sections include the Hokkaido milk bread with kumquat and burnt honey butter; the Usman’s magic tomato salad; the tuna crudo with house ponzu and wasabi; and the courgette flower and miso ricotta. Pasta is a big thing here, and you can see the pasta being made fresh by chefs in the window during service – we can highly recommend the agnolotti with crab and sausage and the fazzoletti with duck ragu and lotus.
Dalla opened in late 2023 on Morning Lane in Hackney, taking over a space that had previously been home to a handful of hyped restaurants that sadly didn’t stick around. These guys, however, are clearly doing something right as nearly two years on, it’s still hard to score a table. The small restaurant is picture perfect, thanks to owner Gennaro Leone – he also owns Spazio Leone where he sells the 20th century Italian art and furniture he’s collected. The interiors are simple but chic, much like the food and wine on offer. The kitchen is headed up by Mitchell Damot, formerly of Burro e Salvia and P. Franco. His approach is rooted in nostalgia, bringing back old recipes, using amazing produce, and presenting them beautifully on the plate. No gimmicks, just good quality, honest Italian food, like frittatina, a huge omelette stuffed with courgette flowers and a drizzle of balsamic; cubes of calzagatti with frigionne and pancetta; raw beef with truffle and egg mayo; tonnarello alla carbonara; pansotti liguri; and tiramisu.
With hospitality company Spook London, Emily Few Brown has been using food and drink to create meaningful experiences and she’s carried that same ethos through to her Battersea restaurant Archway. Tucked into an old railway arch close to Battersea Park, Archway showcases seasonal produce and ethical cooking, with the menu featuring Italian-inspired dishes that celebrate growing and foraging. It evolves in line with the seasons so dishes change often but you can expect the likes of flatbread with olive and cime di rapa; brown crab tagliolini; white & green asparagus risotto with leek butter; and lamb rump with rainbow chard and mustia cheese.
Lupa is a charming little restaurant in Highbury from two locals, actor Theo James and restaurateur (and Carousel co-founder) Ed Templeton. They’ve certainly nailed the osteria look. The 28-cover corner restaurant is essentially one small room and a tiny kitchen in the back, where ex-Pidgin chef Naz Hassan is beavering away. The wooden tables, the butter yellow colour, the cafe curtains, the wine bottles skirting the walls, the light streaming in from two sets of windows – if you didn’t look outside, you could well be in Trastavere not Highbury Park. The menu at Lupa is billed as Roman comfort food and it certainly delivers on that promise. The food is simple and bold – the draping of single anchovy over a plump burrata-stuffed courgette flower is about as cheffy as things get here. Don’t miss the tomato carpaccio, the paccheri alla carbonara, the porchetta and the artichokes alla Romana. Throw in a few Select spritzes and settle in for a lovely time.
After bringing us Zephyr in Notting Hill in 2022 and then flipping Chicama in Chelsea into Greek restaurant Bottarga, what was Pachamama in Marylebone has now been turned into Italian spot Nina. And, like Bottarga, it’s fast become one of the hottest spots in town. The basement restaurant is certainly a vibe. The plaster walls, leopard print draping, white tablecloths, long mirrored bar, low lighting and tall candles on each table combine to create a space that looks cool but doesn’t feel try hard. Begin, as all good Italian meals should, with the focaccia, which is studded with semi-dried tomatoes and served with a parmesan butter as well as olive oil for double lubrication. Then dive into cured wagyu and crystal grissini; taleggio arancini; yellowtail crudo with stracciatella (go for this over the tuna and melon if you have to choose); duck ragu bianco with paccheri; and chicken milanese with more parmesan butter. The tiramisu is both boozy and generous in size, so be prepared to take some home. There’s a largely Italian wine list at Nina but you won’t want to skip the cocktails, which include tini serves and some refreshing spritzes.
She already has Indian (Bombay Bustle and Jamavar), Chinese (MiMi Mei Fair), Japanese (KOYN), Thai (KOYN Thai) and French (Socca) restaurants to her name, and now for her next act, Samyukta Nair has gone Italian. Her latest spot, Nipotina (named after the Italian word for ‘granddaughter’) is open in Mayfair and is focused on homestyle dishes made with seasonal produce, served from breakfast right through to late dinners. Turin-born Somaia Hammad is heading up the kitchen, where she’s serving dishes like Mazzancolle – wild Scottish langoustines roasted with garlic and parsley; Cozze ripiene – stuffed mussels; Fegatini di pollo in padella – chopped chicken livers, balsamic nectar and pancetta; Orecchiette cime di rapa; Tortelli di aragosta alla vodka – lobster triangolo in a spicy red vodka sauce; Triglia alla Livornese – Livornese-style roasted red mullet with capers, lemon, Leccino olives, parsley & tomatoes; Bistecca alla Fiorentina; and Nonna Lina’s ricotta cake.
The River Café is one of London’s most celebrated restaurants, known for its impeccable Italian food, international glitterati clientele and exclusivity – it can be tough to get a table. The restaurant was opened by chef-owner Ruth Rogers in 1987 and has since become a certified London institution. Now, nearly four decades and countless accolades later, The River Café team has opened a new spot, The River Café Café. Located just yards away from the OG, The River Café Café is serving up a more casual (and yes that does mean cheaper) menu of Italian food by the restaurant’s chefs. There are pasties and coffees on offer for breakfast, with bruschetta, cheeses, cured meats, smashed chickpeas, chargrilled marinated peppers, and pastas like spinach and ricotta rotolo and rigatoni all’amatriciana on the all-day menu. If you’ve always wanted to try the food at The River Cafe but have been put off by the hefty price tags, this a great way to give it a try without breaking the bank.
If you’re craving some old-school hospitality with a load of glamour thrown in, then head for The Dover. Bedecked with velvet curtains, wood panelling and soft lighting, the Mayfair restaurant is doing an upscale take on “classic Italian dishes with New York attitude” – this is Italian-American dining with panache. The menu is filled will classics and crowdpleasers like prawn cocktail, chopped salad, spaghetti meatballs, lobster bisque ravioli, beef arrosto and mash, branzino fillet, and baked cheesecake brûlée. When The Dover first opened you actually had to ring up to make a booking but now you can secure a ressie online. Though it’s easier to nab a table, it’s still worth swinging by the no-bookings bar for a smart martini (there are seven different kinds on the menu) and a burger.
DEAR JACKIE
With lavish and glamorous interiors courtesy of Martin Brudnizki, the 57-room Broadwick Soho is no wallflower, and that maximalist design philosophy is proudly on show in the hotel’s signature restaurant Dear Jackie. It’s got red silk walls adorned with decorative plates, Mediterranean-inspired tiles on the tabletops, chintzy fabric on the banquettes, Murano lighting and vintage-style table lamps, which are as much function as form as the lighting, though flattering for the face, is so low you won’t be able to read the menu without them. The restaurant self-describes as part la dolce vita, part disco, we see it more like the older, moneyed aunt of Big Mamma’s Gloria on holiday at a White Lotus resort. Head Chef Harry Faddy (ex-Aquavit and The River Cafe) is aiming for sophistication with his menu, peppering it with luxe ingredients and both classic Italian and Mediterranean flavours. The menu includes dishes like scallops in champagne sauce with trout roe and finger lime, pumpkin tortelloni with nduja butter and amaretti, pork collar with salsa verde with treviso, fennel parmigiana, and tiramisu. We’re not totally sold on the substance of Dear Jackie but the place has style in abundance, so if vibes are high on your requirements when choosing a dinner venue, you’ll be happy here.
A beloved local fave (it’s even taken the top spot for London restaurants on Trip Advisor a few times), the 40-seat, family-owned Trattoria Raffaele has been serving up handmade Italian food since 2008. All the food is seasonal and fresh, including the pasta made from scratch and and the handmade bread and sauces for the pizzas. The regular menu is full of classic dishes but the specials board is where the real gems are to be found.
GRASSO
Founded by Seanie Grasso, whose mum’s family went from Syracuse in Sicily to NYC to London, Grasso in Soho is a proper, family-run Italian-American joint. Little Italy faves dominate the menu, including the signature dish of mom’s spaghetti and meatballs (made to the original family recipe), shrimp cocktail, mozzarella sticks with nduja and wild honey, penne alla vodka, tagliatelle alfredo, lobster linguine, and chicken parm. Grasso also slings pizzas, made with an in-house two-day dough technique, with toppings like vodka sauce, meatballs, fennel sausage and eggplant parm. Add on a couple of Brooklyn’s G&Ts or Cherry Coke Long Island Iced Teas and you’ve got yourself a good time.
Named after owner Leonardo Leoncini’s grandpa, cafe and wine bar Giacco’s leans into his Italian heritage with wines, charcuterie and cheese from small producers in Italy on the menu, which are joined by filled focaccia and fresh pasta. Running as a cafe and bottle shop during the day, you can pop into Giacco’s for some Terrone & Co coffee; salads; Leo’s take on the Florentine classic schiacciata ripiena, aka stuffed focaccia; Italian charcuterie and cheese; and wines to take away. Come evening, small plates and fresh pasta dishes like crudo di pesce, pappardelle al ragu bianco, and pici cacio e pepe hit the menu, alongside a low-intervention wine list featuring bottles from suppliers like Tutto Wines, Les Caves De Pyrene, Vine Trai, Ancestral Wines and Gergovie Wines. The 20-cover spot also has nice little vinyl selection and some vintage Celestion Ditton speakers, so the soundtrack is on point too – what more could you want from a neighbourhood joint?
The younger but bigger of the two Padella restaurants, Padella Shoreditch, is the perfect place for some al fresco pasta thanks to its 26-cover terrace – it’s heated and covered in the rain and uncovered in the sunshine (the restaurant’s glass barriers are also retractable to really open up the space) so it works whatever the weather decides to do. The menu is packed with all the Padella classics including courgette fritti, pici cacio e pepe, pappardelle with 8-hour beef shin ragu, and tiramisu.
What was Jim’s Cafe has been transformed into Italian joint Leo’s by the team behind Juliet’s Quality Foods and chef Giuseppe Belvedere (ex-P.Franco and Bright). Jim’s was known for its classic interiors and the Leo’s crew have kept the old-school look with mid-century furniture and retro accents in the front and white tablecloths and dark wood in the back, proper trattoria vibes. You can pop in for an espresso but you’ll want to stay for the rabbit agnolotti, mussel cream & bottarga spaghetti, grilled lamb saddle and walnut ice cream.
If you’re looking for a big meal with a not-so-big price tag, make a beeline for Sapori. It’s an Italian-British cafe, meaning you can get everything from fry-ups and classic sandwiches to prawn tagliatelle and risotto of the day, all served in greasy spoon-sized portions. It may not be a looker but its a reliable spot to have up your sleeve in Westminster – and there are cannoli on the counter too.
