Italian

• Naples meets London as 081 Pizzeria take their popular pizzas to Shoreditch

  

  They're currently No 43 on the Best Pizzas in Europe list (excluding Italy), and now Peckham's 081 are expanding. They're about to open their second pizzeria, this time in Shoreditch. Taking over the old Iron Bloom spot on Eastern Street will give them a bigger, more central restaurant.

  If you haven't been down to Peckham to try them yet, then here's some intel about them. The man behind 081 is Andrea Ascuiti. He was born in Naples (so he

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• Manteca

  Nose-to-tail cooking meets Italian fare at Manteca in Shoreditch

• Giorgio Locatelli is opening Locatelli at The National Gallery

  

  It pays to keep an eye on Giorgio Locatelli because a lot of what the chef does that's considered breaking news is something he's already flagged up months before. Just as he talked about closing Locanda Locatelli in articles months before it 'suddenly' closed, the chef has been chatting

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• Officina 00's next pasta restaurant is in Covent Garden

  

  5/3/25- updated with opening date

  One of London's best pasta restaurants is gearing up for a new opening. They already have popular restaurants on Old Street and in Fitzrovia, and now Officina 00 are going even more central for their next

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• 27 Old Compton Street is aiming to be Soho's hot new pasta bar

  

  He already has two more Italian restaurants in Soho named after the street they're in, so when restaurateur Nima Safaei came around to giving his latest opening a moniker he stayed true to form, naming it after its address on Compton Street. But while this new restaurant may share a naming convention with its sibling restaurants, it's going to be quite a different beast.

  The new spot is focusing on quick pasta - think of

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• Trullo is popping up with a three-month residency at Harvey Nichols

  

  Up until now, there's only been one Trullo, one of Islington's best restaurants, leaving aside its sibling restaurant Padella, of course. But now, at least for a short while, a second Trullo outpost is coming to Knightsbridge.

  The restaurant is kicking off a three-month

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• Nina takes over from Pachamama in Marylebone with pasta and cannoli

  

  A Hot Dinners exclusive

  The final pivot from the Pachamama group's central London restaurants is taking form in Marylebone following the closure of the original Pachamama in Marylebone. In its place will be Nina which follows the path taken by the group's other restaurants Zephyr and Bottarga in focusing on Mediterranean food instead. This time their attention is turning to Italy and family-style

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• Test Driving Osteria del Mare, the kind of mid-tier seafood restaurant that London needs

  

  Osteria del Mare is the new seafood restaurant from the team behind Bocconcino. We hit up the Strand for some crudo and pasta.

• All-you-can-eat lasagna restaurant Senza Fondo is coming to Shoreditch

  

  Cementing London's current love affair with all things Italian American is new East London restaurant Senza Fondo, a self-styled 'premiumised lasagneria'. The concept is all about big plates and communal dining with the key offering being an all-you-can eat lasagna for just £20. It's taken over the old Rossopomodoro site just off Hoxton Square so it's going to be a pretty large place complete with a bar at the

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• Is Big Mamma coming to the City?

  

  News reaches us that the Big Mamma Group has designs on the City of London. While we wait to hear what they're doing over in Canary Wharf, we hear that they're also looking at opening a new restaurant in the heart of the financial square mile. According to reports they're fairly far down the

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• Alba restaurant aims to bring a taste of Amalfi to Knightsbridge

  

  Updated 9/1/25 with new opening date and photos

  Just in case you were thinking that London may have just reached Italian restaurant saturation, a new restaurant is banking on the fact that the city's desire for lovely Italian food is always a thing. Alba is a new Italian restaurant in Knightsbridge, opening right opposite Harrods, that's on a mission to bring a little bit of the Amalfi

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• Test Driving Pinna, bringing Italian vibes and great pasta to Mayfair

  

  The team behind Wild, Lita and Fantomas bring their magic touch to this Sardinian restaurant in the heart of Mayfair. We take a closer look at Achille Pinna's solo restaurant Pinna. 

• Circolo Popolare

  Big Mamma does Italian in Fitzrovia with panache. 

• Pinna will serve up Sardinian specials beside Mayfair's Shepherd Market

  

  If there were an annual prize for the most industrious restaurateurs in London, then 2024's trophy would probably be a dead heat between Jason Atherton and the dynamic duo of George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev. The latter, having only recently unveiled their latest restaurant Fantomas on the King's Road, are about to open two new London restaurants in just one week.

  The first one you need to know

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• Top Milanese sandwich shop De Santis hits London

  

  The Milanese don't mess around when it comes to food, so when you hear that the best sandwich shop in Milan is coming to London it's time to get excited. De Santis has been serving up its legendary toasted paninis to the folks of Milan since the Sixties - the original restaurant is lined with the photos of famous Italians who've dined there.

  In London, their flagship base is going to be in the church crypt of

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