9 replies to this topic

[Gavin Convery]

Wanting to try a different theme other than french for my eating out I'm looking for some recommendations for Italian restaurants in London.

Already rang Locanda Locatelli and booked up until july!

Been to Zafferano's several times, so don't want to go there.

Any other ideas that I stand half a chance of getting in somewhere in central London (not Barnes or Putney etc.)

[Simon Majumdar]

Shame about Locanda.  I kinda loved it.

Still, not at that level but my two faves are

1)Passione - Charlotte St
2) Vasco & Pierres Pavillion - Poland St

Both reasonable and very good

S

[magnolia]

"Already rang Locanda Locatelli and booked up until july!"

What a sign of the times that Locanda is booked solid for three months...but you can still get a res. at Le Gavroche for this weekend !

For Italian: Enoteca on Putney High Street is really, really good - interesting, well priced and well-executed dishes and a great wine list; Del Bongustaio (nearby, on Putney Bridge Road) used to be good - I haven't been there in about a year and a half.

I hear good things about The Phoenix (also in Putney, funnily enough) now has Italo-leanings...

[cabrales]

Gavin -- While locanda is popular, being booked through the specified date sounds extreme. As discussed earlier on the board by other members, locanda has a general tendency to want to portray itself as being super-busy (e.g., not accepting the times requested by callers, what many believe are artifical busy signals). Do you think another call, perhaps on another night or this one, asking about last-minute cancelled reservations (incl. later dining) might result in a table?

I'm not surprised Le Gavroche has a table. I called Rhodes in the Square (yes, Simon's lobster dish to be sampled for the first time as part of a Pounds 36.50 prix fixe menu) just now, and they had a table for me.  

[Thomas Secor]

I also am a fan of Passione.  The menu is not particularly long but I often think that plays out in a higher quality of ingredients which, at least in this case, seems to bear out.  The wild mushroom appetizer is particularly special, with a nice balance of the mushroom flavors blending together in the sauce (or should I just say butter), while the mushrooms themselves retained their own individual characteristics.  Other big hits are the rack of lamb and the rabbit.

I have not been to Isola but many have recommended it to me, and I have a few friends who think that La Famiglia in Chelsea is very good (although I have a prejudice against that name for some reason).

[Tonyfinch]

The most underrated Italian in London WAS Tentazione,behind Shad Thames in Mill St SEI. Jonathan Meades  raved about it and I had several superb meals there around 1999/2000. I haven't been recently but a friend sang its praises a few months ago.

[Steve Plotnicki]

No one mentioned Assagi. Though I haven't been, to a person my London friends tell me it is the best place to eat Italian in London. As for the others that have been recommended, I vote thumbs down for La Famigilia. There really isn't anything special about that place. In fact my meal was far from enjoyable. Nice garden in the back though. But if you are going to eat in that category, better off with Basilico in Ladbroke Grove. In general I find London's Italian restaurants wanting. Considering its proximity to Italy, I find that odd.

[Gavin Convery]

I went to Tentazione about 18 months ago and wasn't that excited by it, nowhere as good as Zafferano.

[circeplum]

cecconi's in mayfair (burlington gardens, i think) is pretty hot.  very glamorous surroundings and clientele, dimly lit, gently gleaming furnishings; attractive, solicitous staff; decent cocktails - i had a perfect ginger cosmopolitan.  and the food, with a menu originally devised by the now stellar giorgio locatelli, really delivers.  

a risotto made with barbera (and with a spoon containing the wine balance on top) was creamy, al dente, flawless.  fluffy, slightly gooey truffle gnocchi were great (they've appeared again in locanda locatelli - clearly a success) and a tender, rosy pink canon on lamb on roasted sweet peppers was much better than main courses in italian restaurants often are.

not even as expensive as you'd think from the locale/surroundings.

[Gavin Convery]

Anybody tried Aperitivo in Soho, I've heard mixed reports but Time Out liked it and it is run by the Assaggi crowd for what that's worth