Sometimes you just need pasta. Or grilled shrimp. Or beef carpaccio. You just need Italian…
Al Boccon di’vino
This Italian restaurant, quite rightly, has had a brilliant reputation since it opened for fabulous food served with Italian flare. There is no menu. They cook according to what they have and prepare yourself for at least eight tasting courses. The food is traditional Venetian and if you don’t like a course, don’t eat it. Wine offerings are red or white, but what you get will be wonderful. It only has a handful of tables and everyone is seated at the same time. Stanley Tucci loves it. Book well in advance.
14 Red Lion St, Richmond TW9 1RW / nonsolovintoltd.co.uk
Q Verde
A local favourite, the family-run Q Verde has been around for years and has a continuous stream of regulars eating there. You’re always greeted with a warm welcome and you’ll know what you’ll get on the menu as it rarely changes – a good thing to me, as it’s always annoying when you go to a restaurant for a specific dish and they no longer serve it. Starters include king prawns in garlic, baked aubergine with tomato or the traditional avocado, tomato and mozzarella salad, with mains such as spaghetti carbonara and rigatoni pesto and carni such as escalope of chicken and pan-fried calves liver.
291 Sandycombe Road, Kew TW9 3LU / qverde.co.uk
Artisans of Sardinia
More fine dining than local pop in, Artisans of Sardinia opened in late 2019, and has survived all that the lockdowns have thrown at it. The chef takes pride in cooking fresh dishes using local and organic produce, and is, of course, inspired by Sardinian dishes. Pasta and bread are made fresh daily. The menu changes regularly, but expect such delicacies for starters as octopus, seared scallops, and Sardinian cold cuts. Mains may include black pig fillet or cod with caper berries, but pasta is their main offering – semolina gnocchi in lamb ragout or Sardinian fregola of clams and shrimp.
16 Lacy Road, Putney SW15 1NL / artisansofsardinia.com
Mamma Mia
If you’re looking for a traditional, comforting family run restaurant, service without fuss but staff who make you feel welcome, Mamma Mia has it in spades. It’s almost a caricature of what an Italian restaurant should look like – wine bottles on the wall, alongside faded photos of celebrities who have eaten there in the distant past. The menu is all that you would hopefully expect – tiger prawns in chilli and olive oil, beef carpaccio, prosciutto with melon, bresaola with rocket for starters, with a fine selection of pasta dishes, fish and carni for main courses. A lovely, warmly inviting restaurant.
459 Upper Richmond Road West, East Sheen SW14 7PR / mammamiarestaurant.co.uk
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