Lunch Tue—Fri midday—2.30pm, Sat—Sun midday—3pm; dinner Tue—Thu 6pm—9.30pm, Fri—Sat 6pm—10pm
Although it was one of the first foreign foods to be warmed to by British hearts and despite lambrettas, the clothes and the language, Italian grub is not as cool as it once was. Peru and Vietnam have been the most recent providers for curious tongues. Even the US has been making a comeback recently, what with burgers and barbecue keeping hipsters happy. It’s good to remember the classic quality of Italian cooking though; how thought and simplicity, along with very good ingredients, can make for memorable dishes.
Chef patron Andy Needham is on record as saying he just wanted ‘to serve simple Italian food and good wine in a relaxed environment’. For my money, he’s nailed it. It’s a smart and chic room with unfussy tables, stylish cream chairs and dark wooden floorboards. We were seated at the back, where fragrant lillies stood guard over parmesan and tap water. A board of charcuterie turned up with smoky speck, cured pork neck that held sweetness in the fat and some 2 year aged parmesan chunks. Nice touch while you’re choosing your dishes.
As an example of the simple food Andy offers, try this: seared tuna with fennel, orange and mint (£9). Don’t they just sound good together? Be assured they were.
Puntarelle is an Italian kind of chicory and it turned up alongside its cousin the endive in a salad (£7) of artistic colours, made splendid by an anchovy dressing. The freshness and bitterness of the two leaves proved a great, light palate cleanser. Even the burrata (£8), with its creamy, milky ooze spilling over grilled aubergine and the sweetest of tomatoes, didn’t feel too heavy for a starter.
We’d sat down at 7pm and were soon surrounded by people ensuring they were on time for fear of losing a table. The pasta course is available on smaller or larger plates and if you’re intent on a traditional following course of meat or fish, opt for the smaller. Seven-hour slow cooked lamb shoulder ragout (£7 or £14) didn’t sound like it could be bad in any lifetime and so it proved, with silky pappardelle a winning match. The burrata in the early stages was so addictive we wanted to experience it parcelled up in pasta with prawns and chilli (£16). It was another smart mix, the plump bite of the shellfish contrasting well with the soft ravioli.
So intent were we on tasting everything we left little room for pudding, but happily the vanilla panna cotta with fresh mango and passion fruit (£6) was the most delicate of desserts, like being kissed goodnight after a tiring day.
You can choose your favourite part of Italy on the wine list and they helped us with our ignorance by offering bottles and fresh glasses to taste from—even the service is sensible and classic. In four years of reviewing I’ve only given top marks on three occasions but L’Amorosa deserves them: the food, the service, hell, even the pricing were all excellent. Five stars well deserved then, as L’Amorosa is the very definition of faultless dining.
