The upstairs dining room at Campanelle
What can you tell us about Campanelle?
This is the new restaurant from the team behind popular restaurants Manicomio and Canto Corvino. Like them, it's all about Italian food, with the restaurant's founder, Ninau Zarach, taking influence from all over Italy.
It's taken over a building that used to house The London Shipping Exchange
Where is it?
The restaurant's location is probably its greatest asset. Right in the centre of the City, it has taken over a Grade II listed building that used to be home to The London Shipping Exchange. Right from the very impressive frontage, it's a good-looking space, set across two floors.
Inside, the place to be is on the second floor, beside the open kitchen and home to one of the most impressive private dining rooms we've seen in a while.
The rather impressive private dining room
That said, the restaurant is also blessed with an almost alfresco space in the main central space of the building it's attached to. With the colder months approaching, we can see this space becoming very popular with those who want the impression of dining on the terrace, but without the wind, rain and cold:
This is inside a building, yet still gives the feel of an outside terrace, without being affected by the British weather.
As for the location itself, it's right next to Fenchurch Street station, but otherwise about a 10-minute walk from the nearest tube stations - Aldgate, Liverpool Street, Bank or Moorgate.
What kind of food can we expect?
The menu feels a little daunting at first, split into snacks, antipasti, things from the grill, fritti dishes, pasta, sharing dishes and more. But we'd say the best way to approach it is like a traditional Italian menu - starters, pasta, mains and dessert - cherry-picking from each section to achieve that. It turns out that the kitchen has some excellent Italian dishes in its repertoire, steering away (in the main) from fancy twists and instead delivering really great Italian food.
With that in mind, here's what we had on the night:
Montanara, with 24-month prosciutto ruliano (£14) - a pile of prosciutto on fried dough, what's not to like?
Tuscan style tomato bruschetta (£12)
Langoustine arancini (£18) - huge, perfectly cooked arancini
Campanelle carbonara (£26 (or starter size for £17). It's a gentle twist on classic carbonara by switching up the pasta for one shaped like a bell and for which the restaurant is named after, but it's one that works wonders with the sauce.
Veal cotoletta alla Milanese with prosciutto and Parmesan (£38)
What about dessert?
Up to this point, portions are pretty generous, so it's welcome that desserts start to scale things down a little. Perfect for the City audience, frankly.
Tiramisu (£10) - a great tiramisu, but we have to be honest that we prefer a scooped-up version than this more structural one. Still, a good dish to share.
Amalfi lemon tart (£11)
Anything else to mention?
It's an all-day space, so they start with breakfast. There, the Italian influence is a little harder to detect but there is the appearance of Tuscan sausage and bread among the options of the more traditional eggs Benedict and the like.
And drinks?
It is the City, so you can expect a fair bit of attention to be on the wine (there's a prominent wine room beside the winding staircase). As you can imagine, the big focus here is on Italian wines, but it's not the sole point of the list, with a strong French showing here too. Being in the City, there is a good selection of wines in the multiple £100s, so it'll work well as a place to take clients. That said, the entry-level bottle is £39 with plenty of options under £50.
As for cocktails, they're all around the £14 mark, with plenty of gin and tonics and spritzes.
Overall thoughts
The team behind Manicomio know what they're doing when it comes to Italian restaurants, and they've delivered an accomplished restaurant here in the City. The setting is fantastic (particularly upstairs), the food is classic Italian fare done well and the team are welcoming. That might not sound all that exciting, but frankly a good, reliable Italian restaurant in the City is an extremely useful thing to have and we can see this doing well.
More about Campanelle
Where is it? 19-21 Billiter Street, London EC3M 2RY
How to book: Book online or call 0203 745 0909
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @campanellelondon
Hot Dinners ate as guests of Campanelle. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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