Flour Power: London’s best pasta
From ribbons and bows to neat little parcels, mighty tubes and tiny twirls to sweet shells, who would have thought that the deceptively simple concoction of flour and water (and sometimes egg) would equate to something of such variety? The joy that is pasta quite literally comes in hundreds of shapes, sizes and sauces – and the demand for the freshest is ever growing, with home cooks investing in pasta machines, and unassuming yet savvy corner shops selling 00 flour.
Better still, the capital’s pasta scene is thriving with places perfecting spaghetti, rigatoni, pappardelle and the like. So we’ve rounded up the very best spots to indulge in silky strands and rich ragùs – from iconic Italian institutions to new neighbourhood joints, as well as those that double up as pastificios, where you can buy restaurant-quality, hand-rolled pasta to cook at home. Buon appetito!
NORTH
1. Trullo
A restaurant synonymous with its signature pasta dish – pappardelle coated in beef-shin ragù – Trullo has been a staple of the pasta scene since it opened its doors in 2010. Its small rotating menu plays on seasonal flavours but never veers too far from the classics. When you’re not ordering the pappardelle, go for the tagliarini. These willowy strands have cropped up in previous menus, tossed in a crab and chilli emulsion, or turned into a glistening cacio e pepe.
2. Jolene
Known for its atmospheric lighting and chalk-washed, wine-lined walls, Jolene is a Newington Green neighbourhood favourite that attracts locals and visitors with its menu of fresh-that-day pasta small plates. A late-night dinner may offer a tangle of tagliatelle bathed in anchovy butter. An early afternoon jaunt might bring you a pasta alla gricia that could fool you into believing you were in Rome. Order them all with a plate of bitter leaves – tartly dressed and often showered with ricotta salata.
3. Noci
Noci is a new pasta-focused venture from ex-Bancone chef Louis Korovilas, which gives a good indicator of the quality to expect from the soon-to-launch Islington spot. While we speculate on the menu specifics (we have a feeling a nod to Bancone’s confit egg yolk might appear), we know Noci will have a deli counter selling fresh pasta daily, for when you inevitably want to recreate your meal from the night before.
4. Lina Stores
Lina Stores’ newest outpost, located in King’s Cross’ last remaining heritage building, is an emporium of Italian produce and fresh pasta made in-house, which guests can buy in the delicatessen. Book a table and sample the pasta first-hand – the 30-yolk taglioni with black truffle and butter is as luxurious as it sounds. Leave some room to try the casarecce, which packs a punch thanks to no shortage of Calabrian chilli heat. And you can’t go wrong with the pumpkin and ricotta agnolotti, the delicate folds of which hold little pools of butter tinged with sage.
SOUTH
5. Flour & Grape
You can’t book a table at Bermondsey’s Flour & Grape, which, combined with its menu of fresh, handmade pasta, makes it all the more revered among locals and tourists alike. Dishes cover all bases, from a simple, chilli-spiked arrabiata to a decadent carbonara that boasts a rich confit egg, and everything in between. The fazzoletti – paper-thin sheets dressed with smooth mascarpone, nutmeg and spinach – is a particular delight.
6. Padella
Known for their queues that have been winding all the way around the entrance of Borough Market since 2016, Padella is a London Bridge fixture. As the sister restaurant to Trullo, it’s had the celebrated pappardelle and crab tagliarini on the menu for years. The glossy fettucini with chicken livers and marsala is a standout rival to those star dishes, as is the zippy, cavolo-nero cavatelli.
7. La Tua
Another London Bridge resident, La Tua serves artisanal fresh pasta at its Borough Market stall. The place for pasta on the go, it’s only open on Fridays and Saturdays, so expect to queue for its wild-boar ragù with broad cuts of pappardelle. Luckily, home chefs can also buy their filled pasta online. A plate of tender osso-bucco tortelloni needs only a simple tomato sauce to match up to La Tua’s on-site lunches.
8. Artusi
A delightful Italian joint on Peckham’s Bellenden Road, Artusi has a fresh-pasta menu that is small in size, but mighty in impact. Ever changing with the best produce in season, you’ll find zesty lemon-spiked pastas in summer and winter tomatoes turned into a spectacular raw sauce later in the year. Pistachio raviolis are nutty, rich and creamy, matching up to those fall-off-the-bone ragùs.
9. Marcella
Artusi’s Deptford sister restaurant Marcella has a menu that’s just selective and seasonal. It’s a place that feels big and bright during the day as the sun streams through the windows, and altogether cosy as soon as night falls. The same could be said for its rotating menu of fresh pasta, which is at once familiar (pici swimming in vibrant genovese sauce), homely (tagliatelle studded with pheasant, wild mushroom and tarragon) and at times unexpected (brilliant and bitter chicory and beetroot pesto).
EAST
10. Manteca
You might have eaten Manteca’s tonnarelli with brown crab cacio e pepe in another guise back in 2019, when chefs David Carter and Chris Leach held a residency at 10 Heddon Street. Now, that the pair have a permanent site in Shoreditch, you can expect pasta dishes with a nod to nose-to-tail cooking. Like their staple dish of silken handkerchiefs glazed in a rich duck ragù and studded with garlicky, duck-fat breadcrumbs. And there’s an equal ratio of meat to vegetable with just as big flavours. Go for the rigatoni with kale sauce: it’s beautifully bold with a hit of chilli.
11. Campania & Jones
Whatever the season, a table out on the cobblestones of Ezra Street transports you to classic trattoria territory. While other places typically favour the Roman big hitters, such as carbonara or cacio e pepe, Campania has a penchant for slightly more subtle, southern Italian fare using seasonal, local produce. A cool night lends itself to a bowl of fagoli e cozze, where white beans, plump mussels and petite pasta collide. A plate of its pillowy gnudi soaked in sage butter is fit for any occasion.
12. Pophams
Bakery by day and pasta restaurant by night, Popham’s in Hackney is best known for its unexpected twists on classic dishes. Think parsnip gnocchi with a radicchio ragù, and big rolls of cannelloni stuffed with rabbit, girolles, apples and mustard. If you’re in the London Fields area, swing by in the afternoon to watch the chefs roll out their dough in the open kitchen before service.
13. Burro e Salvia
A restaurant for pasta purists, Burro e Salvia is dedicated to unctuous dishes. When it’s not firing up pans of glossy, yolk-hued carbonara or perfectly folded bolognese-stuffed tortellini, it’s selling freshly rolled pasta from its pastificio on Redchurch Street, working with sustainably sourced Wildfarmed flour.
14. Ombra
Its façade might be unassuming but Ombra is not a restaurant to walk right past. Its located pleasingly close to Regent’s Canal, which makes a visit all the more tempting. Highlights on the menu, which specialises in small plates of pasta, include rigatoni with mussels and ravioli with smoked ricotta and anchovies. Our tip? Save room for the tiramisu, which is arguably as delicious as the pasta.
WEST
15. River Cafe
Perhaps London’s foremost Italian institution, Ruth Rogers and the late Rose Gray’s River Cafe is a more formal – but never stuffy – affair. Although a beautiful spot at any time of year, the restaurant is at its best in summer, when its blue chairs, white tablecloths and parasols, are particularly coveted. Its primi menu of pastas is, as you might expect, a small but mighty list of classics. If it’s on the menu, order the kitchen’s iconic slow-cooked tomato sauce, a perfect balance of sweet and salty, and often paired simply with spaghetti.
16. Il Portico
One of London’s longest-standing family restaurants, Il Portico is a Kensington stalwart that’s stood the test of time for six decades and four generations. Thankfully, this old-world Italian doesn’t break tradition and has specialised in cuisine from the Emilia Romagna region since its inception. Highlights include inky tagliolini, soft twists of strozzapreti, and tangles of spaghetti with clams. The tender venison ragùs are best enjoyed after a short walk from leafy Holland Park and or an afternoon at the nearby Design Museum.
17. Polpo
A day well spent browsing the walls of the Saatchi Gallery might end in a plate of pasta and a Campari spritz a few doors down at Polpo in Duke of York Square. One of restaurateur Russell Norman’s two classic Venetian joints, its menu is never without a rustic, moreish dish of spaghetti and meatballs. Its daily specials board has been known to feature little twists of trofie drenched in fresh pesto, and full-to-bursting tortellini floating in a crystal clear brodo to the table.
CENTRAL
18. Bancone
Bancone’s original restaurant, a pleasent stroll from the National Portrait Gallery, is known for its cosy, deep-green banquettes. Not to mention the never-empty tables topped with plates of silk handkerchiefs, walnut butter and confit egg yolk, and ripples of mafalde enriched in a spicy pork ragù.
19. Brutto
Located in Farringdon, Brutto – a dog-friendly restaurant inspired by the flavours of Florence – has a penne with tomato and vodka on its menu that’s become local legend. It also has a jubilant buzz, thanks to the high volumes of chatter that rise over its heady soundtrack of pop and jazz, soul and blues. If vodka pasta doesn’t take your fancy, try the tortellini in brodo with lashings of grated parmesan, or the rabbit parppadelle – all is best served with a Negroni. Its name might translate to mean ‘ugly’, but Brutto is anything but.
20. Bocca Di Lupo
Bocca Di Lupo doesn’t mess with the classics. This Soho institution freely encourages its guests to BYOT (bring your own truffles), although if you find yourself without, they have plenty available to shave over a perfectly seasoned bucatini cacio e pepe. The Sardinian staple of breadcrumbs adds a little crunch to their spaghetti with bottarga. After you’ve had your fill, head over the road to Gelupo for a scoop of bitter chocolate gelato, which we recommend with a palette-cleansing raspberry sorbet.
21. Terroni
It’s easy to walk past Terroni, a humble Italian deli, without realising that it’s the oldest in London. They’ve been selling fine Italian food and wine in Clerkenwell since 1878. Head there for lunch, when it offers up an extensive, no-frills pasta menu: every kind of ravioli you could imagine all served with a simple, piquant tomato sauce. The lasagne al forno is about as authentic as you can get: layers of oozing, nutmeg-spiked bechamel, crispy edges and a rich, meaty ragù.
22. Cafe Murano
Just around the corner from The Ritz sits Michelin-starred chef Angela Harttnett’s Cafe Murano. Pasta dishes come as small orlarge plates. Opting for the former means more things to try, which is helpful when the menu features a bouncy gnocchi, a clam spaghettini that sings of the sea, and a tender rabbit ragù that melts in the mouth. If you’re heading further into town, pay a visit to its Covent Garden location, where you can buy fresh pasta from the Cafe Murano pastificio.
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