Shoreditch, Italian Restaurant Guide

“An amazing experience at a price that doesn’t hurt your wallet” – Jonathan Lawson’s “superb Italian food with Spanish and Moorish influences, and including brilliant pasta (just as good as at The River Café!)” is well-worth the trip to Shoreditch to discover his brilliantly casual and laid back little hole-in-the-wall, with counter seating at the open kitchen downstairs, and a small upstairs dining room.

2019 Review: Mixed reviews for this big, all-day Italian newcomer by Old Street tube – a large, modern unit where they’ve spent a packet on the design. Some do praise its “imaginative” fare and say it’s a good place to take business associates, but there’s also a feeling that “the food doesn’t live up to the prices and comes in small portions”: “this is expense account grub for global biz travellers who truly believe ‘Silicon Roundabout’ is a really cool place”.

This group of London Italians opens fifth (and largest) site at The Bower by Old Street roundabout - the development will also house a Bone Daddies. The three storey restaurant includes an outside terrace and former Zafferano chef Claudio Illuminati heads up the kitchen.

An Italian pasta shop and restaurant from Turin opens its first London venture in Shoreditch, serving over 200 different pasta dishes from its dedicated Pasta Lab.

2019 Review: A London version of Barcelona’s Italian celeb-magnet is slated to open at the Shoreditch Village development this year. It will open adjacent to the citizenM boutique hotel just off Shoreditch High Street (the original is part of Barcelona’s 5-star W hotel).

“Bellissimo!” – Tim Siadatan and Jordan Frieda’s Borough Market four-year-old remains one of the capital’s best options on a budget. The formula is simple: “no reservations, no frills”: just “superlative, freshly made pasta” from a “compact and great value menu”. “Arrive ultra-early to dodge the worst of the perma-queues”, although “the line moves relatively quickly, and their beeper system means you can go for a drink and come back to get your table”. In early 2020, just before Covid-19 struck, they absolutely crushed it with the opening of an outstanding follow-up in svelte, airy, polished-concrete Shoreditch premises. Trading in EC2 since they re-opened post-pandemic has remained deservedly strong for an incredible value destination.