16 London Restaurants Serving Excellent Handmade Pasta

The camera loves the picture-perfect pastries at Pophams Bakery, now with two sites in Hackney on top of the original in Islington. Every bit as Instagrammable are the fresh pasta dishes, served from on Wednesday to Saturday evenings at the London Fields branch. Here, silky pasta is rolled and cut every which way (into barchette, tortellini, cannelloni…) and served with sauces inspired less by Italian dogma than by what’s in season. Doppio ravioli with beetroot, Gorgonzola and poppy seed and maccheroni al ferretto with charred sweetcorn, brown crab and sea purslane are typical of the approach.

Many, many column inches have been devoted to Trattoria Brutto in Farringdon, its mighty T-bone steaks and £5 Negronis. But let’s speak today to its signature pasta dishes: the creamy yet somehow zingy penne alla vodka, its comforting tagliatelle al ragù and super traditional rabbit pappardelle. Showstealers, every one of them. Look out also for seasonal specials such as pappardelle with girolles, thyme and lots and lots of butter or maccheroni with asparagus, zucchini and peas.

Mitshel Ibrahim and his team have been cooking some of London’s best Italian food for years. Noteworthy pastas – rolled each morning at a long table in the dining room – are prepared and served with superb ingredients and little compromise. Handmade ravioli arrives stuffed with buffalo ricotta and ensconced in a luxurious sauce of wild garlic and Amalfi lemon; meanwhile, playful trofie pasta pairs perfectly with a faithfully recreated carbonara sauce. Wines by the glass lean towards the natural, and with tiramisu for dessert, make for a superb meal. There’s a cosy outdoor terrace for fine weather, too.

One of London’s finest pasta restaurants. There’s a knowingly cool, lived-in feel at this acclaimed Shoreditch spot, with a short and frequently changing menu of drop-dead gorgeous pastas prepared before guests at an open kitchen. With pasta, everyone leans one way or another — but regular dishes like a slow-cooked beef shin pappardelle with burrata and meatballs, or a dish of corzetti draped in port sauce and embellished with wild mushrooms and house pork sausage can outshine even the best of their peers.

Behind the azure-fronted frontage of Passione Vino in Shoreditch, lies a wine shop and bar fuelled by the passione and vino in its name. Owner Luca Dusi eschews a formal wine list, instead opening what he feels like opening from a selection of 300+ Italian bottles. There’s no menu either, just chef Pascal Lazzarotto channelling a Venetian pasta granny to produce bigoli with partridge, pappardelle al ragù, sometimes even a handsome frittata di spaghetti. In contrast with the maximalist decor, the pasta pomodoro is simplicity itself.

Clare Lattin and Tom Hill’s paean to simple and seasonal Mediterranean fare, this idyllic Soho bolthole set the template for the modern natural wine bar. A regularly changing list of bottles and wines by the glass make a relaxed foil for elegant, easy-as-you-like dishes that regularly involved braising, slow-cooking, and one or two outstanding pastas, chalked up on a specials board each day. The cosy vibe and central location make the restaurant a fitting setting for meeting close friends or intimate date nights.

Ensconced in Knightsbridge’s opulent Bulgari hotel, this sister restaurant to NYC’s Scarpetta is a temple to high-end Italian cooking. The New York original was famous for a single dish, that being chef Scott Conant’s spaghetti pomodoro — an impossibly simple, yet absolutely unimprovable plate of pasta that relied on outstanding tomatoes, basil and an eye for detail (Conant even demonstrated the recipe on No Reservations). The dish features across their prix fixe lunch and brunch menus, and is flanked by a sublime lobster taglierini and pork and bone marrow agnolotti at dinner.

Counter dining, natural wines, fresh pastas and Mediterranean small plates — this Shoreditch indie captures everything great about dining out in London in 2022. Chef-owner Jon Lawson (ex-Theo Randall) has serious pedigree, and everything that comes out of the restaurant’s tiny kitchen is made with love, not least a lineup of killer pastas like a crab taglierini redolent of seaside sojourns, or incredible truffle pasta made with vivid yellow yolks. A small dining room is perfect for small groups, while the bar seats place diners in the thick of the action.

A neighbourhood spot by Tower Bridge that punches well above its weight, this cool wine bar, restaurant, and terrace by the Thames is a love letter from owner Jay Patel to the cuisine of Italy. Excellent antipasti (say, radicchio salad or peaches with gorgonzola dolce) precede pristine plates of hand-shaped pasta, with chef Matt Beardmore (ex-Trullo) turning out plates like orecchiette with braised rabbit and chard, or taglioni with anchovy butter and crunchy pangrattato. A cannolo for dessert is non-negotiable.

With an uncanny knack for pairing traditional hand rolled pastas with creative ragus and fillings, Chris Leach has made this Soho restaurant a go-to for excellent salumi, spritzes, and superb pasta. The menu changes frequently, but can include anything from a luscious brown crab cacio e pepe or garganelli with a piquant pig’s tail ragu, to a seasonal sweetcorn ravioli that some regulars set their calendars for. Alternatively, grab a couple of friends and order them all. An amaro bar, central location and wallet-friendly menu are all the more reason to make this a frequent go-to.

With a room of loyal regulars and a cosy feel that makes each visit more difficult to leave than the last, this Dalston gem is the platonic ideal of a great neighbourhood restaurant. Lunch here is an excellent way to unplug from the outside world; a seasonal menu reads like a dream, not least comforting pastas like a brown crab spaghetti with chilli and flat leaf parsley, or a plate of fettuccine with marjoram and parmesan. Wines are gluggable, and chosen from small biodynamic and natural vineyards.

A dream of a restaurant on Stoke Newington Church Street, this cosy neighbourhood spot has warmth to spare. Food leans seasonal, uncomplicated and Mediterranean, with an excellent pasta dish most nights—for example, a dreamy plate of maltagliati with wild garlic, creme fraiche and lemon, or tiny squid ink orzo with tender, braised cuttlefish and a generous dollop of aioli. The proprietors are passionate about natural wine, with a diverse list sourced predominantly from small artisanal producers.

The eponymous Tom started his pasta business during lockdown, pedalling his way across east London in a cargo bike with deliveries of his now famous lasagne. He now has a place of his own in Hackney Down’s Studios, where his neighbours All Good Beer supply the craft beers and natural wine to go with Tom’s pasta. The weekly-changing menu is short but all the better for it. Just a couple of pasta dishes – perhaps tagliolini with girolles, parsley and marsala wine, carbonara or hand-cut tagliatelle and sausage – and all the necessary extras such as buttery garlic bread, mortadella, and tiramisu to finish.

About as intimate as it gets, this well-guarded secret also happens to be one of the very best – and most down-to-earth – wine bars in the entire city. Chef Nick Bramham‘s precise, heartfelt cooking pays respect to his favourite cuisines, and hand-cut pastas – perhaps spaghetti tangled with chunks of native lobster, or a classic vongole tossed with chilli and parsley – occasionally guest star on one of the restaurant’s legendary blackboard. Flickering candlelight, snug seating, and one of the most welcoming rooms anywhere make it difficult to leave.

Padella’s beef shin ragu may be one of London’s most lusted-after plates of pasta, but it all began at Trullo in Highbury. This cosy, elegant institution (and Padella’s grown-up sibling) hosts everyone from destination gourmands to Islington locals, who return to the restaurant for its poise and knockout food. Pastas live up to the hype, while the beautifully executed menu — confident antipasti, and outstanding fish and meat — make Trullo one of the best Italian restaurants in the city.

This pretty shopfront on Redchurch street offering fresh and dried pastas conceals a relaxed trattoria at the back. Owner Gaia Enria and her team make pasta by hand each day, and for those too impatient to take them home, the cosy dining room presents a perfect place to enjoy a short menu of the best pastas of the day accompanied by wine. The signature agnolotti with beef, pork and spinach is an enduring classic, and the menu often features lesser-seen shapes like pansiotti and plump, dumpling-like culurgiones stuffed with baccala and olives. The restaurant also offers pasta workshops for aspiring cooks.

The modern Londoner could live on a diet of Negronis and pasta. Pasta Nostra on Old Street does both, and well. The Hibiscus Negroni is quite something, and the pasta strikes that balance between familiar and inventive. Try tortelli with cod brandade or prawns and dill or tonnarelli cacio e pepe with lime zest. Small plates include Roman style supplì and aubergine parmigiana. The second site in Leigh-on-Sea is new this year.

One of the city’s best-kept secrets, Campania has long been a favourite of stylish East End locals and clued-up epicures passing through Columbia Road. A warren of charming dining rooms – all exposed brick, refurbished furniture, and modern touches – plays against a sophisticated menu of Southern Italian fare. The rustic Italian cooking here is transportive, comforting and precise – handmade pastas, slow-cooked ragus, and desserts are matched to one of the atmospheric dining rooms in all of London.

You could happily lose an entire day at Eataly, the gargantuan 42,000 sq.ft. Italian food hall on Bishopsgate. Eataly London has four restaurants vying for attention, but when only classic carbonara or indulgent truffle tagliolini will do, it has to be Eataly Pasta e Pizza on the second floor. There, the pizza comes wood-fired, Neapolitan or Roman style, while the pasta is deluxe dried Spaghetti di Gragnano IGP or fresh from Eataly’s own counter. Make it ravioli with radicchio, Gorgonzola and or a double order of chitarrina with clams and mussels for the table.