There are still places thank heaven that value good food and good service and Bocca di Lupo is one of them. They rescued what threatened to be a dire Monday lunchtime.
Two minutes earlier we'd been forced to abandon ship at Spuntino where the apathy of the staff left us sitting at the bar with no food and no drink, and us growing more and more frustrated. The minute we walked through the door at Bocca di Lupo however, we were greeted with genuine warmth and it instantly made the world of difference to our mood. Time to enjoy our second attempt at lunch.
The first difficulty at Bocca di Lupo is deciding what to eat, plates can be small or large and there's a choice of around 30 dishes (excluding desserts where there are another 14 options). There is also a menu of 'one dish meals' for those in more of a hurry and everything sounded good.
While deciding, the kitchen kindly offered a plate of 'nettle and borage pansotti with walnut sauce'. It was excellent, pasta just right, excellent use of walnuts and great flavours in each and every component.
We had been recommended the 'shaved radish, celeriac & pecorino salad with pomegranates & truffle oil' by both a friend and the staff. No let down here, huge flavour, great texture, bursts of freshness with the pomegranates and the truffle oil packing an enormous punch. For all that, the dish never lost balance and was shared round the table and enjoyed by all.
We also ordered 'tripe with guanciale, chilli & tomato', and while I wasn't personally in the mood for tripe, it was judged by those who ate it to be perfectly cooked and an overall fantastic plate, dish of the day even. The final starter plate (small size but still seeming pretty large) moved the table in the direction of pork where we would stay for the rest of the savouries. The starter was 'Tortiglioni all'Amatricana (tubular pasta, pig cheek bacon, tomato and pecorino)'. The pasta was again first class but the crispy pig cheek was divine, crisped to perfection.
Two minutes earlier we'd been forced to abandon ship at Spuntino where the apathy of the staff left us sitting at the bar with no food and no drink, and us growing more and more frustrated. The minute we walked through the door at Bocca di Lupo however, we were greeted with genuine warmth and it instantly made the world of difference to our mood. Time to enjoy our second attempt at lunch.
The first difficulty at Bocca di Lupo is deciding what to eat, plates can be small or large and there's a choice of around 30 dishes (excluding desserts where there are another 14 options). There is also a menu of 'one dish meals' for those in more of a hurry and everything sounded good.
While deciding, the kitchen kindly offered a plate of 'nettle and borage pansotti with walnut sauce'. It was excellent, pasta just right, excellent use of walnuts and great flavours in each and every component.
We had been recommended the 'shaved radish, celeriac & pecorino salad with pomegranates & truffle oil' by both a friend and the staff. No let down here, huge flavour, great texture, bursts of freshness with the pomegranates and the truffle oil packing an enormous punch. For all that, the dish never lost balance and was shared round the table and enjoyed by all.
We also ordered 'tripe with guanciale, chilli & tomato', and while I wasn't personally in the mood for tripe, it was judged by those who ate it to be perfectly cooked and an overall fantastic plate, dish of the day even. The final starter plate (small size but still seeming pretty large) moved the table in the direction of pork where we would stay for the rest of the savouries. The starter was 'Tortiglioni all'Amatricana (tubular pasta, pig cheek bacon, tomato and pecorino)'. The pasta was again first class but the crispy pig cheek was divine, crisped to perfection.
nettle and borage pansotti with walnut sauce
shaved radish, celeriac & pecorino salad with pomegranates & truffle oil
tripe with guanciale, chilli & tomato
Tortiglioni all'Amatricana
We were smitten by two pork options for the main: 'roast pork & foie gras sausage with farro & porcini' and 'roast suckling pig & grapes'. The sausage was a better use of foie gras than Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester put it to last week in our view and delivered exactly what you hoped it would from the description while the farro similarly came in for praise. And it didn't stop there, the suckling pig was declared excellent by no less a person than Florian Siepert (@siepert) who runs an annual Pork camp (you can read his post Porkcamp 2011 here). The tomatoes we ordered provided a nice freshness versus the pork and should further improve as we move into season.
roast pork & foie gras sausage with farro & porcini
roast suckling pig & grapes
In a potential continuation of the pig theme, we briefly considered for dessert the 'Sanguinaccio - sweet pate of pig's blood & chocolate'. But this was our second lunch of sorts and seemed a little too much. Instead we ended up choosing ice cocktails supplied by Gelupo opposite (Bocca di Lupo and Gelupo are sister organisations): Rose-cucumber martini and Bergamot meringue 'pie'. Another friend who had already lunched but who had joined us at the table opted for a Rum baba which seemed to be enjoyed.
Rose-cucumber martini
Bergamot meringue 'pie'
Rum baba
After our disappointing time at Spuntino, Bocca di Lupo showed how it should be done. First off, the menu is excellent, diverse, original but grounded in classic Italian dishes and the menu even highlights the region from which the dishes originate. Second, the food itself is simply fantastic delivering on the promise of the menu. Third, the service was exactly what service should be: genuinely warm and friendly. If you need further inducement to go, portion sizes are excellent while prices are comparable to Spuntino, so if you find yourself strolling through Soho and are after some sharing plates of great (Italian) food, it is Bocca di Lupo on Archer Street where you should stop in our opinion.
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