Best pasta restaurants in London

Padella's pasta pici cacio e pepe, with with a metal fork on a large white plate

Looking for the best pasta in London? Pasta is having a moment. From Padella in Borough Market to Emilia’s Crafted Pasta in St Katherine Docks and Burro e Salvia in Shoreditch, the last five years has seen a crop of new openings that specialise in freshly made plates of the stuff – carb loading has never been so cool. Here's our pick of the best pasta restaurants in London...

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Manteca, Shoreditch

Fresh, hand-cut pasta and nose-to-tail sauces are the order of the day at this Shoreditch restaurant.

Tender orange-scented olives of every colour and size are fine fodder for browsing the short menu, while warm and bouncy, rosemary-flecked focaccia, damp with oil and salt crystals, staves off hunger before the main event. There’s house-made mortadella, which we’ll be returning for, but are tempted in the direction of the fresh pasta.

Rich and silky brown crab cacio e pepe clings onto tonnarelli – spaghetti’s squarer, rougher cousin – while fat, slippery ribbons of pappardelle hold the softest, well-seasoned ox cheek ragu and fresh, grassy parsley. The must-order, though, should you be lucky enough to still catch the season, is mushroom ravioli in a buttery sauce with crisp sage and shavings of marbled black truffle – they’re creamy, earthy, forest-floor-fantastic.

A big bowl of pasta with a fork tangled up in it

Padella, Borough Market

Tim Siadatan and Jordan Frieda, the duo behind Trullo in Highbury, opened their second restaurant, Padella, in Borough Market in March 2016. Padella’s menu is made up of eight pasta dishes taken from Trullo’s ‘greatest hits’, using fresh pasta rolled in the window of the restaurant just before service.

A small, no-bookings restaurant where queues are a given, Padella was born of a desire to make fresh handmade pasta accessible to everybody. The open kitchen combines traditional Italian techniques and quality British produce to make dishes like pappardelle and eight-hour beef shin ragu, tagliarini with brown shrimps, green and yellow courgette, and its now famous pici cacio e pepe.

Jordan says: “We wanted to create a restaurant that was true to the principles we admired in the great British restaurants – rigorous seasonality with a focus on using British producers wherever possible. We make everything in-house – rolling pasta, baking our bread, churning our ice cream – every day, and do it at a price that isn’t exclusive.”

River Café Café

Pasta dishes are a highlight at the River Café’s neighbouring offshoot. Tuck into green beans and vibrant basil pesto tossed through trofie twists, Datterini tomatoes and Buffalo ricotta creating puddles in orrecchiete and prosciutto di Parma and garlicky yellow Roman courgettes folded between vesuvio spirals. It's a vibrant spot – pops of neon pink, bold Damien Hurst artwork and signature blue floors, and a shiny bar doubles up as a prep station for twists on classic Italian cocktails – negroni invecchiato, cynar spritz, bergamot margaritas and telefonico. Enjoy aperitif-style with a selection of focaccia, pecorino and fennel grissini and bruschetta. There's antipasti in abundance to try before your pasta – punchy Sicilian aubergine caponata, pieces of mozzarella with flash-fried frigitelli peppers and fresh, beefy tomatoes. For dessert, this is your opportunity to try River Café classics in a more casual setting – mousse-like Valrohna chocolate nemesis and bright, creamy signature lemon tart – best shared between two. If the weather’s fine, enjoy on the handful of tables scattered out beside River Cafe's iconic riverside lawn. rivercafe.co.uk/river-cafe-cafe

Two plates of pasta on a white table at River Cafe Cafe

Bancone

The tagline for the Italian restaurant, with four locations in Covent Garden, Soho, Borough Yards and Kensington, might be “pasta, prosecco, espresso” – but it’s those first little mouthfuls of arancini from the antipasti that you’ll be raving about, come home time. Fresh pasta, which is made and rolled upstairs, is flash-boiled before being tossed with any of the 10 sauces on offer. Chitarra – guitar-string like spaghetti – is slicked with cacio e pepe and topped with a crisp, peppered cheese wafer. Oxtail ragu (best ever ragu recipes here), slow cooked for 10 hours until sticky and sweet, clings to bouncy folds of pappardelle. A golden egg yolk adorns the top of the limited edition silk handkerchiefs 'carbonara', where ribbons of pasta sit in a decadent, cheese sauce with crisp shards of pancetta. Simple, quality ingredients – the bedrock of good Italian cookery – are shown proper respect.

Click here for our dinner party menu from Bancone here

Bancone Limited Edition silk hankerchiefs 'carbonara' — Milly+KR+Bancone

Lina Stores, Soho

Lina Stores is a much-anticipated pasta, antipasti and aperitivi bar from Soho institution Lina Stores, an Italian deli that’s been the go-to for authentic produce since opening in 1944. The white and mint striped awning makes the new restaurant easily identifiable to regulars at Lina Stores’ original green-tiled corner shop a few streets away.

Head chef Masha Rener has kept the menu simple and seemingly authentic, with every ingredient hailing directly from Italy – from bright and buttery Cerignola olives right down to the sugar used in exemplary Italian desserts and cakes. Fresh pasta, handmade an hour before service, is given pride of place at Lina Stores, served as the main event rather than traditional pre-main primi. Bright yellow strands of pappardelle soak up light, gamey rabbit ragu, perfectly formed gnocchi is brightened up with popping peas, and a vibrant mint and courgette mixture is stuffed into little tortellini parcels. Pici alla norcina is the highlight, though – springy worms of pasta in a creamy, nutty sauce of porcini mushroom and Norcia sausage (often celebrated as the best in Italy).

Here’s our review of Lina Stores’ original shop, too

The plates of pasta at Lina Stores with shelves of bottles in the background

Trullo, Higbury

Older sister to Borough Market’s Padella, Trullo serves perfect pasta, antipasti and larger charcoal grill dishes in a romantic yet relaxed environment. Upstairs, wooden tables – simply laid with white paper tablecloths and flickering tea lights – are huddled together, while downstairs, dark booths are perfect for a longer, laid-back dinner.

The menu changes twice daily, depending on seasonal produce, but if there’s two of you we’d recommend a couple of antipasti, a couple of plates of pasta and one larger oven dish. Baskets of bread are served alongside a pot of olive oil, and you can keep asking for more but it’s better to save yourself for the pasta. Rich beef shin ragu coats slippery ribbons of pappardelle, while sweet squash ravioli gets a richness from the olive oil. If it’s on the menu, order Padella’s iconic pici cacio e pepe for a cheesy hit. Meat and fish are simply cooked over coals, served with the likes of soft polenta and salsa verde or baby beetroot. trullorestaurant.com

Emilia’s Crafted Pasta, St Katherines Dock

“Many people have said the view from our restaurant resembles the coast of southern Italy,” says Andrew Macleod, owner of Emilia’s in St Katharine Docks. After developing the concept, Andrew joined forces with pasta chef Simone Stagnitto to create the menus for this rustic pasta bar. The pasta is made daily on site and the concise menu features just seven pasta dishes. Recipes include a northern Italian-style carbonara and four-hour slow-cooked béchamel bolognese.

Noci, Battersea Power Station

Modern pasta restaurant Noci has opened its second site deep inside Battersea Power Station, joining the original Islington location. Despite the industrial surroundings of Battersea Power Station, once you’re inside Noci it manages to still feel warm and cosy – suitable for both special occasion dinners and quick lunches whilst shopping. A range of modern spritzes on the cocktail menu is a new addition to the Noci offering that's exclusive to Battersea and not to be missed: the lemon and elderflower spritz on tap is a refreshing easy-drinker, whilst the sherbety yuzu and rhubarb spritz is our new favourite summer drink.

Kick a meal off with a selection of the snacks: salty house focaccia topped with red onions, or triangular parcels of mortadella, ricotta and fior de latte torte fritter that ooze with cheese. Crisp, buttery nduja arancini are accompanied by a cloud of rich pecorino and parmesan mousse. The pasta menu combines Noci classics with changing seasonal twists. The signature veal and pork Genovese ragu (pictured) remains the standout dish and is a must-order, with deep caramelised onion flavour, meat that falls apart and melting Monk’s Head cheese delivered with style. The brown butter cacio e pepe is chewy and indulgent, whilst the crab and ricotta raviolo is generously filled and the richness balanced by plenty of deeply toasted pine nuts. There’s a short dessert menu, but you’re here for the savoury. Go for three pastas between two and a couple of the fried snacks and you’re sure to leave happy. nocirestaurant.co.uk

Officina 00, Old Street

Officina 00 is a cool pasta spot bringing a warm taste of the Med to Old Street roundabout, in East London. Italian classics from each region are given a modern twist, be it crumbled tarallo (a southern Italian savoury breadstick) atop burrata or cacio e pepe-filled deep-fried ravioli. All dishes are designed for sharing, and between two it’s best to order a couple of snacks, a small plate and two bowls of pasta (leaving room for tiramisu). Start with gooey aubergine croquettes, spiked with ‘nduja and topped with a sheet of ricotta salata, a final drizzle of honey giving a floral sweetness.

Pasta comes al dente (although some might find it a little on the thick side), so if you like things lighter order gnocchi. Gooey dollops of melted gorgonzola cling onto pillows of soft pumpkin, all soaking up a nutty sage brown butter. It’s a comforting cuddle in a bowl. Corzetti (a thinly rolled, round pasta shape, stamped with a decorative design) traditional of north-west Italy is topped with an umami kick of bouncy wild mushrooms and crumbled fennel sausage.

A bowl of orange pumpkin gnocchi with chunks of blue cheese

Pastaio, Soho

Chef Stevie Parle’s casual venture brings handmade pasta and affordable wines to Soho. From the pasta section, malloreddus (tiny, ridged Sardinian gnocchi) come dressed with a slow-cooked sausage sauce that's elegantly light and flavourful, while agnoli stuffed with grouse, pork and rabbit in a seriously moreish sage-butter sauce is a deceptively simple dish that makes good use of prime autumn produce.

A marble table with lots of places of pasta on top

Bocca di Lupo, Soho

Bocca di Lupo showcases regional Italian cooking in tapas-sized portions. Jacob and Victor travelled extensively around Italy to research the restaurant’s menu and wine lists. There's a dedicated pasta section featuring the likes of pappardelle with wild boar ragu, spaghetti with squid cooked in it’s ink to turn black, and “pinched” little parcels of agnolotti del plin filled with veal and pork. boccadilupo.com