This casual Italian café and late-night bar is the second Brixton opening from the team behind Canova Hall and Hackney’s Martello Hall. Like its siblings, it’s a crowd-pleaser, serving up bottomless brunch at weekends, plus late-night DJ sets, cabaret shows, hands-on gin masterclasses and Super Soul Sunday sessions.
The varied menu includes cicchetti and small plates such as burrata and heritage tomato salad, deep-fried anchovies and pecorino croquettes with pea and mint pesto. Elsewhere, you’ll find spaghetti and meatballs, gnocchi, filled pasta and ragus. Our ‘slow and deep’ beef ragu with pappardelle didn’t quite live up to its name: the tough meat should have been melting. However, the house ‘nduja-fried chicken with jalapeño mayonnaise fare far better and was the best thing we ate.
Italian wines and Brixton Brewery beers are on the drinks list, alongside a tempting range of spritzes and cocktails. Try the In House, made with Cattivo’s own small-batch gin, kirsch, Chambord, maraschino syrup and elderflower tonic, or maybe a seductive shot from the absinthe list.