Spitalfields, Italian Restaurant Guide

Post pandemic, the feedback on this small, quirky, City-fringe Italian (in the characterful tangle of streets near Spitalfields) has become more patchy. Fans still say its interesting wines and authentic cuisine are outstanding, but we don’t have sufficient volume of reports for a reliable rating.

This modern Italian bar/restaurant by Spitalfields is consistently well-rated in all feedback. There’s a continued theme from last year, however, that even fans of its antipasti, pasta and grills from the Josper oven can find it plain “overpriced”.

Sit at the bar where there’s “Prosecco on tap” and hang with the Mayfair glam crowd at this “always buzzy” and “professional” Italian brasserie in Burlington Gardens, at the back of the Royal Academy: “a favourite for some good people watching”. Nowadays part of Soho House, “there’s something for everyone on the menu” and it’s a favoured lunch spot for local business types. On the downside, prices are high, the food is “average” and service can be so-so. (Reports on its Soho ‘Pizza Bar’ spin-off and City branches are few and far between).

“A great place for anything Italian” – Oscar Farinetti’s “huge” food mall concept has swept the world and its London outpost near Liverpool Street station (a relatively late arrival in 2021) boasts no fewer than 11 restaurants, bars and counters to feed you, alongside shops and stalls where you can pick up goodies to take home. Gastronomically, the sheer scale works against it, so even the flagship Terra elicits comparatively little praise, but the whole enterprise has a pleasant buzz; “staff work hard to please”; and simpler items in particular “benefit from the ready supply of super ingredients”.

“Excellent pasta” is the straightforward proposition at this Italian trio, with a flagship in Canary Wharf, which takes its name and inspiration from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region.

“Packed fuller than a tube train, but the blinding food makes it all worth it!” – Chris Leach and David Carter’s “bustling” two-year-old “in the heart of hipster Shoreditch” has “made huge waves and deservedly so” thanks to its “punchy, honest, original and surprisingly good-value” Italian cooking which includes some notable pasta dishes (e.g. “shout out for the duck fazzoletti – homemade, with a perfectly balanced sauce”); and whose meaty options “make full use of lesser cuts (the pig’s head croquette is a special treat)”. “Always a good night out”… “superb!”