Southwark, Italian Restaurant Guide

“Quality Italian beefsteaks” – most notably from the Piedmontese Fassone breed – are showcased in style at Genovese owner, Roberto Costa’s, “unique” steakhouse group, where at each branch you “enter through the butcher’s shop” and “you can tell the staff which cut you want”. “The well-hung rump steak is absolutely delicious” and “a great selection of Italian wines” helps make it the perfect place to kill off an evening.

Gordon Ramsay’s “Italian-leaning” warehouse conversion in Southwark, with an indoor ‘olive grove’ complete with trees, pleases some with its “giant portions of great food” and “fantastic cocktails”. Far too many reporters this year, though, complain of a “sterile” aspect to its “industrial” decor, and dismiss the fare as mightily “uninspired”.

“Chocca with pop-ups” near Elephant & Castle, this “amazing” 45,000 square foot foodie market is “a great place to hang out and eat” – and is “far less crowded than Borough Market, its neighbour up the road”. “The range and quality means you have to return several times to sample everything you want” from 50 different operators including an on-site Bavarian brewer. This ‘sustainable community food market’ is the brainchild of Andrea Rasca, who runs similar schemes in Milan and Turin. Upcoming developments include markets in Grade I listed St Mark’s Church, Mayfair and Ilford’s new cultural quarter and an MM Food Factory at the nearby £2.3billion Elephant Park development scheme. The only complaint is that this former paper factory “feels like a barn and can get chilly in winter”.

“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.