Padella
Pasta
6 Southwark St, London SE1 1TQ
£
In April last year, I tried to rid myself of the supposed myth that pasta was for the house only. I simply couldn't seem to get my head around the hype, and honestly thought that ordering pasta in a restaurant was both an uninspiring and boring choice (sorry). The constant criticism and contradiction I faced due to my negative pasta beliefs eventually led me to Emilia's, where I was once again left unconvinced and underwhelmed by this infamous carb.
I'd heard rumours of a pasta palace to change even the most stubborn haters, nestled in the centre of London Bridge and named Padella. From the duo behind Islington's Trullo restaurant, Padella is the reality of a dream to give Londoners delicious fresh pasta inspired by the flavours of Italy. It operates a no-booking policy, and even over two years after opening the queue remains at almost every hour of the day. Could this be because everyone loves pasta? Could it be the hype surrounding the place? Could it be the brilliantly affordable prices?
I went with my best mate and Pasta veteran, Asta (coincidentally 'Pasta' without the 'P'). We arrived at around 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon, and queued for around 15 minutes. Sat up at the counter, we were able to see into the open kitchen and gawk at all the pasta action. A constant team of around 5 chefs take on different stages in the process: from rolling, to boiling to compiling the pasta onto the plate. Service was friendly and quick, and they didn't seem annoyed when we said we were fine with just tap water.
Onto the food: starters are simple but expertly put together, with sourdough bread, burrata, raddichio salad and beef carpaccio featuring. It would have been completely ridiculous not to order a burrata in an Italian restaurant, because, frankly, it's not often one can justify eating a ball of creamy cheese injected with more cream, and at the price of £5.5 it was truly a bargain. We ordered two, but in hindsight should have probably got one to share, along with either the salad or bread to compliment it. The burrata was served with only salt, pepper and a generous lashing of new season Fiorano olive oil: a bold move, I thought, oozing with confidence on quality of the flavours.
The pasta dishes range from a ludicrous £4, up to a comfortable £11.5. We ended up both going for the stracci with sweet onion, thyme and gorgonzola fonduta, however, once we saw what another table had done (ordered three different plates between two to share) we realised what a mistake we had made. Fear not, for this was quickly resolved with the absolutely marvellous flavour, rich colour and delicate freshness of what was to arrive on our table. It was simply delicious, and for £5.5, a serious bargain. The gorgonzola was powerful without being overwhelming and was contrasted beautifully with the sweet onion. I must say that I think it was parsley rather than thyme in the dish, but I'm not complaining as this still worked fantastically, even if I'm not 100% sure where the thyme went (pun not intended).
Upon returning two months later for my second visit, I was able to sample the stunning simplicity of their salted caramel ice cream. Slightly more salty than sweet, the creaminess was on point and the flavour delicate enough to not be too sickly. The homemade wine on tap for £4 a glass/£16 for 500ml is seriously reasonable, as well as fresh and juicy. Despite the fact you can't book, this would be an excellent place to come with a few friends and order as many different dishes as you can stomach: everything looked delicious and even the most expensive dish on the menu is reasonably priced.
At last! Somewhere which has stopped me in my pasta-hating tracks and taught me what a beautiful meal this can be. Don't get me wrong, I will save my pasta orders for only the very specialist of restaurants, meaning I will be back at Padella as soon as possible, to order as many different dishes as I can. ALL HAIL PADELLA!
UPDATE >>> Since returning to Padella on Tuesday 5th February 2019, I was able to sample three more dishes. These were the notorious pici cacio & pepe (£6.5), which wowed with the silky simplicity of cheese and pepper, the flavour busting (and my personal favourite) cavatelli with anchovy, garlic, chilli and broccoli and pecorino, and the contrast of flavours in the fettucine with sharp lemon, creamy mascarpone and spicy nduja. All three of these dishes were EVEN better than those I had tried before. We also opted for some sourdough to accompany just the one burrata, which was a much better choice.
We had to wait 2 hours for a table, which meant sinking a couple of pints at a nearby pub, but this was all worth it. Service was smiley, efficient and friendly with them moving us to a table after realising Tom's legs may be slightly too long for the counter seat we were given. I still can't wait to come back for a third time.
OVERALL RATING: *****
https://www.padella.co/
