Pasta perfect

THERE'S A PUB in darkest Kent that does very decent food, mostly seafood. I’ve been going there with a friend who lives round the corner literally for decades, and over the past few years we have felt the uncomfortable sensation of our wallets growing lighter as prices have steadily risen.

Lunch (okay, lunch with wine) for two in this local recently set me back £120, which is uppish you might think for a relatively obscure pub in the middle of nowhere. But what’s a landlord to do? Food, energy and staff costs (if you can find the staff) have soared since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Come to that, what’s the poor old customer to do? Diners are counting their pennies, and there’s a limit to how much they can or will pay for lunch. My chum and I love this old pub, and we’re fond of the staff, but we have begun to cast around for more cost-effective options.

I was musing on this price/cost squeeze, and what restaurateurs were going to do about it when I was introduced to a kind of culinary miracle - a new restaurant in central London (on Piccadilly, for heaven’s sake) that is serving superb food at what might have been pub prices five or six years ago.

I was invited to Notto - a relaxed, modern restaurant sandwiched between Waterstones and St James’s Church - by an old friend who works in the industry. I got there first, and enjoyed the buzz of the place. It’s next to an alleyway between Piccadilly and Jermyn Street, and it was pleasant to watch people stroll by - including actor, broadcaster, comedian and author Stephen Fry, who noticed me noticing him and I think did a little half smile.

Once my pal arrived, we got stuck in. My starter was a rich and ever so slightly spicy chestnut soup with ricotta (£7) and a very soft baked in-house focaccia. It was quite simply one of the finest soups I’d had in years.

Memorable too was the squid ink spaghetti with a sauce of sardines, garlic, sweet peppers and tomato (£13) the fishy, salty sweet flavour of which has stayed with me. I’ll go back to Notto just for that dish.

We had strozzapreti with black truffles, mushroom stock, parmesan and butter (£19.50), which was good and earthy, and a marvellous pappardelle with slow cooked oxtail and shin of beef, field mushrooms and red wine (£16). A ravioli of osso bucco appeared too, although I didn’t catch the price, and as the guest I wasn’t paying.

Anyway, it was all good - even great, and at much less than I had paid for a nice but relatively ordinary meal in an obscure pub in a distant part of Kent. So, how was it done?

The answer lies in the team behind Notto. This is a relatively new venture by Michelin-starred chef Philip Howard and his business partner Julian Dyer. The executive chef is Louis Korovilas (ex of Locanda Locatelli, Pied à Terre and Bancone), and the GM is Nicholas Georgoulakis who previously worked at Michelin-starred Elystan Street in Chelsea.

The pasta, like the focaccia, is made on site and the dishes are designed and delivered by a team led by one of London’s most revered chefs. This is not pasta like mama used to make. It’s pasta like you would get in a high-end restaurant, but without the Michelin-starred fuss.

Notto is innovative and clever, and instantly won a place on my list of favourite restaurants - not least because it is so central. Oh, and one more thing: nobody pays me to review restaurants these days (which is surprisingly liberating) and when I do it’s because I am genuinely impressed.

Go try Notto before it gets too busy.

Notto, 198 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9EZ. 0203 3034 2180.

Notto website.