By Angela Green
The perfect bowl of pasta is most people’s favourite meal, and Spagnoletti in King’s Cross delivers a menu packed with personality, flavour and colour.
The Spagnoletti food focus is southern Italian, and the overall menu in the all-day restaurant is fun, contemporary, creative, casual and affordable.
Head Chef Girolamo de Gennaro is a pasta specialist, collaborating with Group Executive Chef Manuele Bazzoni – the two Italians share a distinct passion for pasta.
The fully open-to-view kitchen gives customers an opportunity to see the chefs upfront and close as they prepare pasta, sauces, bread and all the other dishes from scratch.
Spagnoletti’s exceptional range features nine pastas (plus a daily special). Girolamo explains that ‘it all starts with great flour’ – his pasta, made fresh every day, adds the finest seasonal ingredients for sauces from a wealth of British and Italian suppliers.
Among the tempting pastas are:
- Tagliolini (with native lobster with Amalfi lemon, chilli and basil)
- Malfade (slow-cooked beef and onion with white wine and pecorino)
- Agnolotti (filled with egg yolk, guanciale, pecorino and black pepper)
- Pici (cacio e pepe with black pepper, pecorino and summer truffle)
- Tagliatelle (green asparagus pesto, egg yolk dressing)
- Strozzapreti (baby octopus, olives, tomato sauce and parsley)
- Rigatoni (Tropea onions, spicy nduja, cherry tomato sauce and cacio ricotta)
- Pasta Mista e Patate (mixed purple potato pasta with soffritto, potatoes and smoked scamorza foam)
There are also starters such as Focaccia Barese (with tomato, black olive and oregano); Charcoal Arancini (wild mushroom and black truffle with goat’s cheese spread); Burrata (from La Latteria, with wild puffed rice, balsamic gel, beetroot sorbet and pickle).
Mussels Pepata (with cracked black pepper, garlic and white wine); Panelle (Sicilian chickpea fritter with taggiasca olive tapenade).
Tagliere di Salumi (selection of Italian charcuterie).
A new range of main courses features Porchetta (homemade stuffed pork belly with pickles); Tagliata (28-day dry-aged Scottish rib eye with rocket and Parmesan); Grilled octopus (with roast potatoes and Salmoriglio sauce); and Tuna steak (yellowtail with Sicilian salad of fennel, orange, and olives).
Desserts maintain the Italian theme with their signature Spagnoletti Tiramisù, and Coconut pannacotta (with mango, passion fruit and caramel sauce). Along with Italian spritz and a selection of cocktails, including Bellini, Rossini and a Frangelico Old-Fashioned, there are four regional wines ‘on tap’ (red, white, rosé and Prosecco) – all at affordable prices (from £4.50 glass).
The new breakfast menu with Italian flair is already a huge hit, with dishes such as the Full Italian (a twist on the Full English), and Sourdough with Ricotta Pesto and Pomodorini, alongside freshly baked Italian pastries, including Sicilian brioche and Cornetto (Italian croissant).
The light, bright, modern-retro space spans two areas, both facing busy Euston Road and directly opposite King’s Cross and St Pancras stations.
The ground floor accommodates up to 60 in an all-day café, and the upper mezzanine with the Spritz Bar seats up to 42 (which can also be hired for private events).
23 Euston Road, King’s Cross, London NW1 2SD Website: www.spagnoletti.co.uk
Reservations: 020-7843 2221
Open daily: Monday-Friday 7am-9.30pm, Saturday/Sunday 8am-9.30pm
(Breakfast until 10.30am weekdays, 11.30am on weekend)