Italian
CAMPANIA & JONES
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 3:30 PM, 6:00 – 10:30 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 3:30 PM, 6:00 – 10:30 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 3:30 PM, 6:00 – 10:30 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 3:30 PM, 6:00 – 11:00 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 – 5:00 PM, 6:00 – 11:00 PM
- Sunday: 12:00 – 5:00 PM
Just off the end of Columbia Road is where you’ll find some of the best southern Italian food in one of the most romantic restaurants in town. Campania & Jones wins you over immediately with its beautifully rustic decor and convivial atmosphere, and then it makes you fall in love with it as the food comes out – plump gnudi with sage butter, bowls of homemade pappardelle and tortelli, rich fish stew, and the best tiramisu in London. Simple, flavourful cooking, generous portions just like nonna would dish up, and a gorge setting, you really can’t ask for much more.
NOCI
- Monday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Sunday: 12:00 – 10:00 PM
Having worked at Locanda Locatelli and opened Bancone, Louis Korovilas certainly knows a thing or two about pasta and he’s showing it off at his new spot Noci (owned by the peeps behind Tavolino) in Islington. The menu takes inspo from Louis’ travels across Italy and the country’s regional specialties, starting with a short selection of small plates including fluffy foccacia with datterini tomato and caramelised onion, saffron & nduja arancini, and bresaola with star anise-dressed celeriac. Pasta is the star of the show though and there’s plenty of variety from veal & pork Genovese ragu with paccheri to wild mushroom silk handkerchiefs with confit egg yolk. Not only is the food at Noci genuinely great, it’s reasonably priced too – the house peach spritz is a fiver, negronis are six quid and the pasta plates are affordable, (they even offer ziti with pesto, tomato or parmesan & butter sauce for £7.50).
THEO RANDALL
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, 5:30 – 10:00 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, 5:30 – 10:00 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, 5:30 – 10:00 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 2:00 PM, 5:30 – 10:00 PM
- Saturday: 12:30 – 4:00 PM
- Sunday: 12:30 – 4:00 PM
Top chef Theo Randall has been at The InterContinental Park Lane since it opened in 2006, having spent the majority of his career at The River Cafe with the legendary Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray MBE, as well as a stint at The Berkeley, California. Theo’s cooking is deeply rooted in rustic Italian food and has been given numerous nods from notable critics. The pappardelle con ragú di manzo, fresh pasta with slow cooked beef in Chianti and San Marzano tomatoes, is exceptional, as is the risotto di mare with clams, seabass, mussels, prawns, tomatoes, chilli and parsley. When Italian food is this impressive it’s a meal you will be talking about for a while.
BRUTTO
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 5:30 – 10:30 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 5:30 – 10:30 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 5:30 – 10:30 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 5:30 – 10:30 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 5:30 – 10:30 PM
- Sunday: Closed
He changed the restaurant game with Polpo (distressed interiors, small plates, no ressies) and almost a year after leaving the group he co-founded, Russell Norman returned with the Tuscan-inspired Trattoria Brutto. The name comes from the Italian saying ‘brutto ma buono’, which translates to ‘ugly but good’ – so, the food is hearty and honest. He’s got Oliver Diver (who started out at Polpo in Soho before working at Wild Honey, Chiltern Firehouse and Allegra) heading up the kitchen and the menu includes dishes like panzanella, vitello tonnato, pappardelle with wild boar, lamb chops al cartoccio, beef stew, rosemary flatbread with broad bean puree, and chicken liver toasts. You won’t want to miss the £5 negronis and be sure to save room for tiramisu.
BACCALA
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
- Sunday: Closed
Named after the famous Italian salt cod dish, Baccala is the creation of four friends; sommelier Fabio de Nicola (previously of Hovarda, Oblix & Zuma Istanbul), head chef Moreno Polverini (previously at Four Seasons Hotel Group at Park Lane in London), Fabio’s designer wife Ilanit Ovadya, and Elif Taner Polverini, who is married to Moreno. It’s an intimate and charming restaurant of 30 covers, with an extra 20 in their downstairs space, counter seating at the open kitchen so you can see the chefs in action, and 14 seats outside for alfresco goals. The premise is simple, Italian seafood dishes made with love using the finest locally sourced produce. Baccala’s signature dishes include roasted octopus with colonnata lard on marinated bell peppers, olives & basil; roasted aubergine salad with walnuts & Vesuvian pink tomato; the mezze maniche with mussels, courgette flower & black cuttlefish; and the salted cod with sautéed escarole & yellow datterino.
MANTECA
- Monday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
- Sunday: 12:00 – 3:00 PM, 5:30 – 11:00 PM
Manteca in Shoreditch is the third iteration of a restaurant that started at 10 Heddon Street before moving to Soho, and now finally settling here in on Curtain Road. Of all these, the new place is the one that really feels like their home. If you’ve been to Manteca before and loved it then you will definitely be a fan of the Shoreditch restaurant. All the elements are there – the in-house charcuterie, the nose-to-tail menu, and the fresh pasta – and now it’s all wrapped up in a beautiful new space and a bold menu that combines some of their classic dishes with several new ones. Don’t miss the incredible mortadella, made fresh in house; the crisp, rich pig head fritti; the clam flatbread; the n’duja mussels; and the tonnarelli with a brown crab cacio e pepe sauce.
SORELLA
- Monday: Closed
- Tuesday: 6:00 – 10:00 PM
- Wednesday: 6:00 – 10:00 PM
- Thursday: 6:00 – 10:00 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 2:45 PM, 6:00 – 10:00 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 – 2:45 PM, 6:00 – 10:00 PM
- Sunday: Closed
Think Amalfi coast but down a Clapham backstreet. Sorella is an Italian neighbourhood joint serving up traditional and seasonal food that hones in on all that owner Robin Gill loves about the Italian attitude to cooking and eating. And just like the rest of Robin’s restaurants (Bermondsey Larder, Darby’s and Rye by the Water), the menu is full of some stand-out dishes including the likes of smoked duck and black garlic arancini; Dexter beef bavette, borlotti beans and salsa verde; and apricot & frangipane tart with milk gelato. These guys really know their stuff.
ARTUSI
- Monday: 6:00 – 9:30 PM
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 6:00 – 9:30 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 6:00 – 9:30 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 6:00 – 9:30 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 6:00 – 10:00 PM
- Saturday: 12:00 – 2:30 PM, 6:00 – 10:00 PM
- Sunday: 12:00 – 4:00 PM
Artusi is one of those great neighbourhood joints that either makes you happy that you’re local or jealous if you’re not. The regularly changing menu always features simple but perfectly executed Italian dishes like ‘nduja with ricotta & monks beard, chicken leg with puntarelle & parmesan aioli, gurnard with samphire & tomato, and pastas made fresh that day. Start with a negroni and follow with a glass (or several) from the Italian wine list and you’ve got a very good time on your hands.
EATALY
- Monday: 7:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Tuesday: 7:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Wednesday: 7:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Thursday: 7:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Friday: 7:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Saturday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
- Sunday: 9:00 AM – 10:00 PM
Massive Italian food hall Eataly has finally opened in London – it’s stocked with over 5000 products spanning pasta, cheese and cured meats to gelato and olive oil, plus a zero-waste refill station and London’s largest Italian wine cellar. As well as the market and retail areas, Eataly is home to a number of dining counters, including Roman-style pizza at Pizza alla Pala, fresh pasta at the Pasta Fresca Bar, focaccia and salads at Made in Eataly, coffee and pastries at the Gran Caffè. There’s also the La Terrazza di Eataly al fresco restaurant, which serves up Italian classics like tuna crudo, burrata, cacio e pepe, ricotta & spinach ravioli and Torino-style pizzas alongside spritzes from Aperol.
CECCONI'S SHOREDITCH
- Monday: 7:30 AM – 10:30 PM
- Tuesday: 7:30 AM – 10:30 PM
- Wednesday: 7:30 AM – 10:30 PM
- Thursday: 7:30 AM – 10:30 PM
- Friday: 7:30 AM – 11:30 PM
- Saturday: 7:30 AM – 11:30 PM
- Sunday: 7:30 AM – 10:00 PM
Similar to the Mayfair flagship, Cecconi’s Shoreditch serves up the same Italian faves but with a more relaxed vibe… it is East London after all. The restaurant very much looks the part with a black and white tiled floor, marble tables and artwork-covered walls. It’s a menu full of classics done right with dishes like tuna tartare, veal milanese, wood-fired pizza and lobster spaghetti, with all of the pastas also coming in sharing sized portions as well as individal bowls. The Shoreditch outpost of Cecconi’s is an instant hit – it’s classy but not stuffy, it’s got a buzzy atmosphere and the service is totally on point, just as you’d expect from a Soho House operation.
FORZA WINE
- Monday: 12:00 PM – 12:00 AM
- Tuesday: 12:00 PM – 12:00 AM
- Wednesday: 12:00 PM – 12:00 AM
- Thursday: 12:00 PM – 12:00 AM
- Friday: 12:00 PM – 1:00 AM
- Saturday: 12:00 PM – 1:00 AM
- Sunday: 12:00 – 11:00 PM
The Forza Win team has gone back to the roof with Forza Wine. The spot, on top of a renovated space on Rye Lane (complete with some epic views over Peckham), serves up an Italian menu with dishes like sausage and fontina toasties for lunch and a plate of sardines and grilled veal stuffed with fior di latte in the evening. There are plenty of drinks to go with the food, including wine, beers and frozen negronis, and there’s even a lift so you don’t have to worry about trying to make it down the stairs when you’re smashed – anyone who’s made the climb up and down to Frank’s will appreciate this.
CAFE MURANO
- Monday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
- Tuesday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
- Wednesday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
- Thursday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
- Friday: 12:00 – 10:30 PM
- Saturday: 10:00 AM – 10:30 PM
- Sunday: 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Cafe Murano Bermondsey is Angela Hartnett’s third outpost of her Michelin-starred Murano brand and this site feels very different to those in St James and Covent Garden. It features an open kitchen front and centre with dining counters overlooking the bar, kitchen and Bermondsey St itself. The menu features some new additions as well as the much-loved classics – there’s our favourite chicken Milanese, but also the likes of guinea fowl agnolotti, hake with mussels & n’duja, and delicia pumpkin tortelli. The all-Italian wine list is pretty impressive too, championing low intervention varieties. And if you’re really not sure what to choose, you can’t go wrong with Angela’s own Rosato.