Bocca di Lupo

A great choice for pre or post theatre dinner (or in between if you like – but the location in the heart of London's Theatreland obviously lends itself to combine this with a musical or theatre visit in any of the many venues nearby)

This is a busy and buzzing location, not the place to go for a quit romantic dinner (unless you consider the noise level of a train station cozy …) but that's not what you come for. The food focuses on regional Italian cuisine with a broad variety of different options (not at all limited to your traditional, simple pasta dishes) and almost all dishes are available in smaller or larger sizes making them ideal for sharing in tapas style fashion. Very attentative service (not an easy task given the buzz and typically fully packed restaurant). Interesting wine list with many options by the glass or carraffe

I got a table for 8pm on a Saturday night for 4 at Bocca di Lupo from a friend who had double-booked herself so my visit came with few expectations and no reservation hassle. Her loss was definitely my gain. We were seated (ahead of time!) at a table sandwiched between a birthday party and a deal-closing dinner and whilst the noise levels stayed just the right side of hyper the harsh acoustics could easily turn buzzy into shouty so it's not the place for a quiet dinner a deux. The menu is unusual, engaging, adventurous. Whilst a few dishes miss, when they do hit the spot, they absolutely nail it. We started by sharing (urgh yes, sharing again, you can't escape that bandwagon anywhere these days so give in gracefully) some gorgeous deep-fried mozzarella balls and minced pork balls, fried artichoke, some salames which were unpleasantly more fat than meat and some delicately fried squid (heaven help our arteries). Then my main dish came and blew everything else out of the water: an amazingly juicy big fat hunk of roast suckling pig with crispy crunchy skin. It was so good I wanted others to taste it so I didn't complain when I had to swap halfway through for my fiance's teal which was exactly as our waiter described: intensely flavoursome game but just a few mouthfuls on it. We also had sides of turnip tops which I'd never tried before (delicious but with a bitter edge), as well as more mainstream roast potatoes and roast pumpkin. Our friends' pastas seemed a bit dull in comparison. Service was straightforward and professional from the receptionist to the sommelier and the army of waiters. At £60 a head it was reasonable value for such conversation-worthy food (plus a carafe of white and soft drinks) in a fun but grown-up venue. We didn't stay for desserts (babysitting issues rather than overstaying our welcome!) which is a shame but I'm not sure I'd come back: I don't want to run the risk of it disappointing next time!

Visiting my favorite Italian once again; Bocca di Lupo, I was met with the same style & substance, that draws me back every time.
As always the food was outstanding, filling up on Fritta… I then moved on to a stunning Trofie & Cuttlefish, so good I am reliable informed (via a great maitre'd on the door), that a version of the dish will be at this years Taste of London… so I know where I will be this summer !!
Moving on… I topped up with Braised Octopus and Agretti and all washed down with a bottle of well reconmended red.
This was a business lunch, so a lot more work and a lot less social than I like, however as always regardless of situation, Bocca di Lupo did the trick well.
What I was very impressed with on this particular visit and the reason for me writing, was the great personal service that I received. I was greated my name, welcome back, etc… but the modern gadget of the reservation system could have told then that… however the noting that it was a business lunch, the allocation of a quiet table (which is Bocca di Lupo is rare, as its alwasy so full), and the acceptance of my bag and a pile of paper & folders at the table, was very much appreciated. Then to put the iceing on the cake, as we were collecting ourselves together and making our way to the door, the host siad that they hoped my meeting went well, and looked forward to having us again on a more socail occasion in the near future… what a lovely touch !!
Thank you Bocca di Lupo… see you again in a few weeks time.

Very underwhelmed last night, on what was my second visit.

We (two of us) arrived early and had to wait for a table (no problem there). To pass the time whilst hanging around in the rather packed foyer area, we ordered two glasses of wine. The first waiter we asked couldn't take the order because he he didn't know how to transfer the bill from the foyer to a table.

So…for our 15 minutes of waiting…we had no drinks. Then, the wine didn't arrive for at least another 15, probably 20 minutes after sitting down, despite being chased twice. An inability to take a wine order and 30-35 minutes of subsequent waiting on a drizzly Tuesday night was laughable.

We ordered seven small dishes. Five arrived. When enquiring about the missing two…we were told “That's all we have on the list” despite a very clearly articulated order.

To be fair, the food was ok…but this service was shocking. Polite? Yes. Efficient? Not even close.

We won't be returning.

I have tried to love Bocca Di Lupo, I really have. But at the end of the day I just don't. It's not me, it's you; you're just not my type.

And this is odd, as you really should be. Deep fried fish, game, interesting wines. They're all here. But, and I don't really know why, the whole is somehow so much less than the sum of the parts, that I just can't find the love. Like finding out that Kylie supports Spurs; heartbreaking as, on paper, everything seems so perfect.

It's not as if I haven't tried; this is the fourth or fifth time I've been, but it still doesn't click. I'm sorry, but it's Polpo for me from now on for small dish Italian nosh.

This weekend was the second time I'd tried to go in the last few weeks. The previous time I'd booked for four. One pulled out so, when I was called to reconfirm, I confirmed for three. The fourth then changed their mind, but, on calling the restaurant, I was first told I'd only ever had a booking for three, and was the told there was no way we could up our booking to four. Now I'm sorry, but the restaurant has tables for two or four. Where exactly were three going to sit; on a table otherwise for two or four?

So I cancelled and we went to Ten Cases. Yet I still got chased for not having turned up.

Now I suppose that this should have been a warning. But no, a couple of weeks later I tried again. No troubles with booking, but arriving ten minutes late, we were told that our table wasn't ready. The great thing about modern technology (other than updating cancellations, it seems) is that everything comes up on the reception screen. No reservations book, all on screen.

So I could stand there and watch the red flag counting by how much the people on our table had overstayed their allotted time. 26 minutes overstaying for a two hour reservation. Sorry, but you need to manage this if you don’t want people to get annoyed about standing around waiting for a table that they have booked. Now I don’t like aggressive table turning, but I do like to sit at some time close to when I’ve booked for.

Eventually we were asked if we'd like a drink and, on having ordered, our table became free.

There is no denying that room is great: a long bar (or chef's counter) leading to babbling cacophony of contented chatter, raising to occasional shrieked welcome as BFFs great each other in some weird non-mating ritual. Tables of two occupy the walls and some four person tables in the middle. Some of which, I noted, were laid up for three. Odd that.

Food is laid out under headings like “fried”, “pasta and rice”, “meat” etc. And the food is generally pretty good. Having had the fried olives recently at Spuntino, we thought we'd try some, together with some fried Mozzarella balls, whilst we decided what else to ingest.

Oh dear. Not a good start: we'd been told be the (extremely helpful) waitress that the olives were the size of golf balls. Fair enough, the more traditional cured ones brought to the table with the bread were enormous. At Spuntino they come stuffed, lightly coated and fried. Here, the olive is but an ingredient in a veal and olive meatball. Nice in its way, but not quite what we'd wanted. Nor too the fried mozzarella balls, which were soggy and cold. A deep fried frigid cheese oozing water is not what I was looking for.

The fried squid and prawns was a serious step up. Light batter, crunchy fresh and piping hot. Very nice indeed. “Oh yes”, our waitress assured us on seeing our enjoyment of the dish, “people are often surprised at how good the food is: we’re a hidden gem”. Hidden gem? Come on – BdL has had almost as many column inches over the years as Heston had when he opened Diner. And for the amount of coverage that it has had, it needs to be better.

That said, the pasta was well cooked and fine, if not memorable, and the beans very nice too. The teal, however, was horribly over-cooked. I had expected more as, having been warned that it was served pink, and having seen the pigeon and mallard at the next table arrive dripping red goodness, I assumed that the teal would be treated with respect and come with the redness of the myoglobin swimming out, mixing with the wet polenta. Perhaps the next door table had complained about just how pink their game was. Perhaps the teal was forgotten in the oven. What ever the reason, it was not pink at all. It was brown. The teal is a tiny bird. It takes skill and care to shoot it (trust me, I’ve tried and failed). The least that the kitchen could do is to take as much skill and care in cooking it.

Wine is a high point, and the staff are good at suggesting interesting ones: a call for a glass of white was met not with the usual generic pino grigio, but an interesting Fiano and the red was, whilst from Piedmont, an unusual Langhe DOC rather than the more usual (and expensive) Barolo or Barbaresco.

As if to compound the hit and miss nature of the service, the bill came with a couple of items that we hadn’t had.

Shame really, but there are plenty more fish in the sea, I’m sure that you’ll meet the right person soon but I think we should just remain friends.

Lunch at the bar which I would strongly recommend versus the dining room. Excellent starter of sea bream carpaccio girole risotto and anchovies but was eclipsed by the partridges which were just amazing. Desert were good but should really have skipped them as I was too full to enjoy them.

Now I have history with fried. Show me a tapas bar, a fine dining restaurant or a street-side snack joint and I'll gravitate toward the section in batter.

BDL is a perfect case in point. A menu spanning the best parts of Italy available on a small plate. It could very well be the older, grown up brother that Polpo doesn't have or a distant cousin for similarly light and upmarket Barrafina.

Admittedly it's got a ‘build your own’ Frito Misto section and an obsession with the (literally) gutsier end of the pig, but in the main it's a well brought up, properly behaved small plate Italian. Friendly staff in black buzz along the thick, light marble bar into the serious restaurant at the rear. If you're only a two (or a very close three) then snare seats at the wide bar if you can. It's well designed for flowing access behind you and relatively calm, even opposite the frantic kitchen, and doesn't thankfully feel like either an afterthought or a corridor.

There's plenty on the keenly priced sharing menu to tempt the non meaty. I could happily graze from their side dishes, and a small plate of plump, fresh broad bean tortellini was well executed and possibly life extending if not eye opening. But in all honesty, if you're at BDL for a bite, chances are it's going to be porky.

Most of the dishes come with two sizes, and even the small plates are reasonably proportioned. We started with plump olives, as green as snooker baize and a brace of sourdough bruchetta, layered with some of the sweet and seasonal broad beans scattered across several other dishes on the menu, here combined with salty thin shards of pig's cheek and a deep umami laden jus. They paired perfectly with similarly seasonally apt courgette flowers, stuffed with mozzarella and lifted out of their slightly oily batter with the soft bite of anchovy.

If I were to throw a criticism, it'd be that oil. It slightly marred the courgette flowers and soaked deeply into the sheet holding the so-so Frito Misto too. Not a deal-breaker, but enough to make you regret another order of fried. You build your own frito from a small menu, baccalau was unctuous flaky battered pollack, whole squid gave great texture in the tentacles but over floured rings and bland aubergine, little more than an oil trap, let down the final dish.

Thankfully, and expectedly for a restaurant with its own ice-cream parlor over the road, they made up with the desserts. My guest took a trio of the homemade, fruit stuffed ice creams, here nestling in a toasted brioche roll, I went for Sanguinaccio, the devil's own nutella, a thick chocolate paste with pine nut and pig's blood from Abruzzo, the blood adding a dark note of sweet iron, lifting the dark cocoa to the heavens. I licked the bowl clean. I'm not a proud man…

I'll admit I'm a bit wary of Italian restaurants in London (being an avid home cook of Italian heritage, I'm known to be picky!), but based on the reviews and intriguing menu, I decided to try it. I won't say we were entirely disappointed, but I will say I have never felt more rushed in a restaurant. We had a reservation for two, with no time constraints, on a fairly busy but drizzly Thursday evening. There was no queue, and about half the tables were unoccupied. However, instead of the quiet, leisurely, relaxed post-workday meal I'd expected, we soon realised we were being squeezed through an efficient but impersonal factory of a restaurant.

The tables are a bit ‘elbow to elbow’, which I'm not normally a fan of, but overall the atmosphere was pleasant – not too loud, etc. We were greeted pleasantly enough at the door, where they offered to take our coats and bags. However, no sooner had we sat down (about 30 seconds after, no exaggeration,) they asked us if we were ready to order. Not drinks, not water, but order food. When we asked politely if we could have some wine and a few more minutes to even OPEN the menus, they quickly complied with the wine and then continued to ask for our order every two minutes. When I asked if we could order appetisers and have some time to look at the mains, they said no.

We eventually ordered – lamb prosciutto with asparagus and pecorino rosso, and marinated red peppers with anchovies to start. Both plates were nice enough – the anchovies and peppers lacked texture and were definitely from a jar, but were well seasoned. However, the minute I finished my appetiser, two waiters came over – one took my plate, and the other brought cutlery for the next course – before my partner had even finished eating.

We decided to stretch out the main as long as possible, which was brought (of course) piping hot, but within 2 minutes of our appetisers being cleared. Mine was nice enough – orrechiette with tomatoes and spicy sausage. However, my partner got the pork and fois gras sausage with farro and porcini, and it was very mediocre. Even though he got the large, the portion was tiny – there was no sauce on the plate, and the whole dish was a bit mushy and beige. I think they were trying to do an Italian take on sausage and mash and it just fell a bit flat.

For dessert, we opted for the blood orange granita, which was really lovely and fresh. The table was cleared and the check brought before we could even put our spoons down, of course. The prices were reasonable, and the staff was pleasant enough, it just felt like we couldn't relax the entire time – like the waitstaff was a well-oiled machine designed to crank us through as quickly as possible. The entire meal lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes, which, for a three course dinner with wine, I find a bit brief.

Ultimately I don't think I'll return – the experience wasn't awful, but it wasn't anything special, either. Decent food in a hurried environment, definitely not the place to go for a date or relaxed meal! A pre-theatre meal might be better for this restaurant.

I loved my trip to Bocca di Lupo, the food was just as I had expected, perfect Italian cuisine. I enjoyed it so much that I even went to it's little ice cream place just opposite. It's called Gelupo and does amazing, fresh without any rubbish in it gelato. The quality was incredible and I found out about it on this dessert blog, check it out, it also good for other recommendations around the city.

www.ninaicecream.com

Fantastic evening. Really good meal. Very varied and unusual menu and great service and wine. One of the cest meals I have had in the last year.