Nine Elms, Italian Restaurant Guide

This “elegantly decorated, modern Italian” with a terrace overlooking the river near the redeveloped Battersea Power Station is “useful in the neighbourhood” – a “safe bet”, albeit “expensive for what it is”. High-profile chef Francesco Mazzei parted company with the owners, D&D London, in early 2023, boosting the sentiment that this potentially spectacular venue has never fully realised its potential.

“This new spot under the railway arches by Battersea Power Station has some really good cooking” from ex-River Café chef, Alex Owens, to the extent that one early reporter thought it this year’s “top opening”. It helps too that it has a very attractive interior and “amazing service”, led by the other woman behind the new place: owner and CEO Emily Few Brown, who launched the catering company Spook almost ten years ago.

All-day Italian-style eating, inspired by the grand cafés of Europe and the culinary traditions of Venice, is the aim at this ground-floor venue in a hotel near Victoria station and its sibling in the Battersea Power Station development’s new art’otel. Both can still be an “asset to the area”, offering a “buzzing” setting, “amazing breakfasts” and “decent dining proposition”, but there was also a high proportion of disappointments this year – in particular, poor service in both locations.