Zucca
Andy Lynes, Metro (Rating: 4/5 stars)
(Yet more) high praise for this Bermondsey Italian, where “[t]here’s a warm, smiley greeting, almost absurdly low prices and a short menu of simple, ingredient-led dishes that’s the antithesis of cheffy indulgence.” With the exception of “underwhleming” pasta dishes, nearly every dish sampled is “faultless”, and served with “that all-too-rare commodity: genuine hospitality.”
Amico Bio
Fay Maschler, Evening Standard (Rating: 3/5 stars)
The owners of this Italian vegetarian restaurant in Clerkenwell “want you to enjoy fresh produce trucked in from their organic farm nears Naples”, the critic tells us. The premises “have a homely air” and service is “delightful”, but on the menu “the arduous face of vegetarianism presented itself.” After enduring “the devil’s work that is seitan” (wheat gluten) and an artichoke frittata ressembling “a sort of beige envelope”, the critic concludes that the owners “should slip a fillet of fish, veal escalope and chicken al mattone... onto the menu. We could still appreciate and laud his cousins’ vegetables.”
Pescheria Mattiucci
Time Out (Rating: 3/5 stars)
A review of a “little fish shop and casual eaterie/wine bar” in Notting Hill, where the tapas-like dishes are “well done and taste even better when enjoyed with a glass or two of Italian wine”. “Take a seat on an upturned barrel, sip a glass or two and have a few fish dishes and you could almost be in Italy.”
Mamuska's!
Time Out (Rating: 3/5 stars)
The critic visits a Polish cafe in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre, that’s “filled with big homely wooden tables” and “comforting smells of own-made Polish staples”. The menu “will not revolutionise Polish cuisine in London, but it's cheap, filling and cheerful.”
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