Sam Harris has successfully and quietly run the Maltings Café around the corner on Tower Bridge Road for some time, a lunchtime only gig, and something of a hidden gem of Italian cuisine – now he is mixing it with the big boys with evening service. The wine list is selected by Sam himself, an Italiophile par excellence (he’s been to Piemonte every year for a decade), margins are skinny, and get this – you can take a bottle yourself and Sam is happy for you to drink it for just a £5 corkage.
Style? The River Café meets St John – simplicity, elegance, and integrity of ingredients. Sam lives and breathes Italian food and wine, despite being very English, and has had stints at The River Café, Bibendum, and 4 years as a food inspector for Egon Ronay. He knows food inside out, and understands balance of flavours, the essence of Italian culture, and the beautiful simplicity of Italian food.
The room plays a conscious yet stylish back seat to the food, apart from the open kitchen and bar seating. An exposed brick wall at the back again has a whiff of St John-esque insouciance with home comforts. Edgy, urban, clean lines could feel cold and unwelcoming, austere even, but when the place is full on a Saturday night, it crackles with energy and chatter. There’s excitement in the air.
A short and snappy menu, almost brutally short descriptions, has the aura of St John - concise, no flab, no purple prose – this is a menu that just wants to get on with it. And it does.
You get the feeling that there is something hardcore and uncompromising about the place. Some serious action.
A summary of several visits. Ok I’ll admit it, many visits, lunch and dinners.
Buffalo Mozzarella, Roasted Squash - starkly simple, this sums up Zucca. Impeccably sourced ingredients sing from the plate with clarity.Pumpkin (Zucca) charred here and there, sweet flesh, premier league Mozzarella, drizzle of good olive oil, grind of pepper. Simplicity and beauty on a plate.
Buffalo Mozzarella, grilled fennel - That Mozzarella again, this time playing a riff with a thin sliver of chargrilled fennel, haunting anise note, black pepper, olive oil. Zen purity.
Zucchini Fritti – Perfectly seasoned zucchini fritti, made with a tempura batter (the real deal, made with sparkling water for lightness and deftness). Remarkable, light, airy, fried goodness.
Castelmagno and radish - Piedmontese cheese made in Cuneo, is a tangy, savoury foil for crunchy sliced radish, good salad leaves, sprinkling of parmesan. A signature dish of Zucca? It could well become one.
Carpaccio of Sea Bass - Spanking fresh, clean flavoured, flecks of chilli adding punch, finished off with olive oil and lemon juice. Order two. Each.
Linguine with Clams and Samphire - Classic vongole dish with a twist. Well judged pasta, salty samphire, a touch of chilli, that squeeze of lemon juice again. Lunch-time nirvana.
Tagliatelle with artichokes and lemon – Seriously fine handmade pasta, silken strands amongst a vibrant lemon charged sauce. Startlingly good pasta, ranking with any you’ll find in the top Italian restaurants in London.
Grilled prawns, chilli and lemon - Off the scale. Prawns from the mother-ship, huge meaty Madagascan style swines that crackle with flavour, leaving me crunching through the lot, there isno need to ease the sweet meat away from its shell – suck ‘em and see.
Pappardelle with Gorgonzola and Hazelnuts - The most beautiful looking dish of the lot, wide Pappardelle, creamy Gorgonzola that doesn’t overwhelm that excellent pasta. Studded with the odd crunch of toasted Hazelnuts. Earthy, savoury, punchy, soothing, all at once.
Grilled Veal Chop with lemon – Ordered after we had eaten more than we really needed to, the deftness of the meat was surprising. Tender as you could wish for, crisped fat at the edge, brightened with lemon, sitting on well seasoned spinach.
The wine list could well be the best value Italian list in London. Clearly put together with knowledge and passion, some of the wines are from Sam’s own Italian cellar with some top end wines at effectively retail price.
Bosco di is a classily dry and focused start, and from there the list unveils a well considered regionallity, including the best co-operative winery in Italy, Produttori del Barbaresco Nebbiolo, fine Northern Italian whites from Borgo del Tiglio and the sublime Miani from Friuli, perfumed Barolo from Mauro Veglio, Barbaresco from the full throttle, modern styled La Spinetta.
The list reaches stratospheric iconic level with Gaja Barbaresco 2006, and the superstar Tuscan Italians of Sassicaia 2005 and Ornellaia 2003, both at £110, both of which you’ll pay £300 and over in any other restaurant in London. There is plenty between £14-£20, so this really is a list both for fine wine lovers, and those that just want good wine priced so sharply it defies you to resist ordering that second bottle.
Coffee is brilliant, brooding, menacing espresso. Cakes are excellent too, changing daily. You could get almond tart with creme fraiche, you may get chocolate espresso cake. Pastry chef is wickedly talented.
There is a clarity and precision about everything going on here, a focus and vision for the place which is plain to see. No fluff, no bluster, cards on the table.
It reminds me of A16 in San Francisco, an Italian restaurant in The Marina. I was so pleased to get into without a reservation on a Saturday night, that we stayed for 4 hours and refused to leave our seat at the bar – if a place is serving great food and humming with energy, you just don’t want to leave – Zucca has that feel to it.
Two other big Italian openings in London recently have embraced the informality of Italian dining, Polpo and Bocca di Lupo, and have been big successes from the off. Zucca is set to become the most exciting Italian opening in London this year, but in a totally different, unassuming, almost modest way.
Hardcore ethos, unswerving dedication to essence of the ingredient, and carried off with charm and a smile – front of house unfussily do their jobs, pulled together by the affable resaurant manager Angelo Varveri, ex- Osteria Dell’Angelo.
The River Café meets St John, shakes it by the hand, takes the best bits of it, and settles down for the evening.
183 Bermondsey Street
London SE1 3TQ
0207 378 6809
