I spend a lot of time in Italy and I eat a lot of Italian food, mainly from Tuscany – simple pastas and a lot of beef. The Italians seem content eating their own cuisine, whereas the first thing I crave when I get back to London is a spicy Chinese.
We’ve all had that experience in cities such as Rome, Bologna or Florence. You finish a meal at a local trattoria and wish you had somewhere just like it around the corner at home. Often there’s a reason that things taste better abroad – you’re on holiday, happy in different surroundings with the sun shining. Yet it’s the simplicity of it all, twinned with the good value (VAT for restaurants in Italy is 10% as opposed to 20% here), that’s so often hard to find back here in Blighty.
So I was excited when I heard Conor Gadd from Trullo, recognised by chefs and diners alike as one of the best Italian restaurants in London, was opening a new place in one of the old Petersham Nurseries sites in Covent Garden. Italian restaurants are having a bit of moment in London – think Martino’s in Sloane Square, CeCe’s in Notting Hill, Osteria Vibrato in Soho and Tiella in Bethnal Green. Now there’s Burro, which means those chasing some of the best Italian cooking in town no longer need to head to Highbury.
It’s taken over the former La Goccia space and stripped things back. The room is minimal but not sterile. It’s a big space that could feel cold but the artwork helps add some warmth to the room. I went at 6pm on a Tuesday, when only a few tables were occupied. By 7pm it was full. The crowd was chic and of a certain age where they still have disposable income.
Following Giles Coren’s strict instructions from his review in The Times, we started dinner with the fried artichokes and bottarga – a perfect accompaniment to a cold beer or glass of Ferrari from Trentino. As you’d expect from a classic Italian restaurant, the menu is made up of antipasti, primi and secondi. I find the secondi in this country are sometimes best avoided, so we settled on antipasti and primi. A bruschetta of Venetian chicken livers and a mozzarella with smashed peas, parmesan and mint balanced each other out, the earthy flavours of the liver with the lighter spring flavours of the peas and mint.
From the primi, a strozzapretti all’Amatriciana. The classic Roman pasta sauce is a great test of any Italian restaurant – Burro’s passed – with the strozzapretti being a fun shape of pasta to serve it with. Busiate – a pasta originally from Trapani in Sicily – came with a simple basil and pesto sauce. Depending how hungry you are, you could do three pastas between two if you decide to not order from the secondi, which included a sharing lasagne for two to three people for £45. Whatever you choose, be sure to order the tiramisu doughnuts to finish (it would be rude not to).
Burro is a refreshing, welcome addition to the Italian offering in London and the wider restaurant scene. It’s the sort of place I can see myself dropping into on a whim for a plate of pasta and a glass of wine. Ideal before the theatre, especially if you’re heading to the Royal Opera House. Visiting Italians, I suspect, will approve too.
WHERE 2 Floral Court, Floral Street, London WC2E 9FB
FOLLOW @burro_restaurant
BOOK trattoriaburro.com
