Fresh pasta fever has gripped London in the last decade and it shows no sign of letting go, as we all slump into the carby embrace of long fettuccine ribbons and pillowy gnocchi.
The latest big name to jump into the fray is NOTTO, lead by Phil Howard - a chef’s chef if ever there was one. When a chef of his talent turns his hand to something, we sit up and listen.
So, NOTTO should be hot-o by all accounts. We like what they’ve done with the dining room, which could ordinarily have been a rather awkward, slender space. It's modern and minimal, all clean lines, pale, organic tones and blonde timber. The front is where all the buzz is, while things are a little more serene further back, where there’s a cute little banquette surrounded by pampas grass.
Pleasant as the restaurant is, a pasta restaurant lives and dies on the quality of the food. The start is promising - a very good duck liver pate with juicy, boozy figs, followed by a giant arancini with pleasing crust and intense wild mushroom filling. The vitello tonnato is a slimmed-down take on a classic, with veal sliced ultra-thin and a mild tuna cream that makes this a good entry point for tonnato newbies.
With the signature black truffle strozzapreti missing from the menu on our visit, we pivoted towards a lovely rigatoni cacio e pepe with rich, clingy sauce. We’d have taken an extra hit of black pepper, given the choice, but we happily cleaned the plate regardless. A pile of osso buco ravioli with saffron butter and chive oil sounded delicious, but it was a tad under seasoned and lacked the richness of classic osso buco.
There’s something delicious and unique at the heart of NOTTO but our visit was let down by small things, like the above, or like a few shards of crab shell in an otherwise good white crab spaghettini. The bar staff already have a dangerously drinkable set of cocktails down pat, so NOTTO doesn’t feel far off competing with the capital’s top pasta players following a few small tweaks.