Weekly Review: Padella
Travel to Italy without leaving London.
Quick hit: Delicious homemade pasta so good you’ll think you were in Italy.
Details: Booking advised. Borough Market & Shoreditch. £££.
Restaurant website. More on Instagram and from Michelin.
Find it on Google Maps (Borough Market and Shoreditch).
Borough Market: 6 Southwark St, SE1 1TQ.
Shoreditch: 1 Phipp St, EC2A 4PS.
If Google is to be believed, pasta was a big trend in London a few years ago. Here’s the Times and Eater back in 2019 and the FT from 2021, for example.
But it feels like that’s played out. These days, everyone I know seems to trying a high-protein, low-carb approach to life. Maybe that’s just because most of my friends are middle aged.
But all of the best evidence suggests that no one eats pasta any more, right?
Wrong.
London is stuffed with excellence pasta places. The trend arguably began with Trullo about a decade ago, then there was Brutto and Russell Norman’s amazing cookbook. Now, there’s Bancone and, of course, Padella.
I walk past the Borough Market outlet of Padella most mornings, and I marvel to see prep chefs working at the counter in the front window hand-making pasta for that day’s service, no matter how early I wander by.
Even if this is slightly contrived marketing, it promises a great deal, and Padella delivers.
I tried both the Shoreditch and Borough locations over a couple of weeks, and was blown away by the quality of the pasta, cooking, and service.
At the newer location in Shoreditch, there are tables, a lovely terrace and a counter. Bookings are happily accepted. Service is friendly, welcoming, and attentive. And the vibe is wonderfully buzzy.
At the original in Borough Market, it’s counter seating only. Diners join a virtual queue for seats and are encouraged to grab a drink at one of the nearby spots while they wait. The focus is the food, and the main counter fronts into a small, open kitchen. The pace is frenetic. The vibe is itense. But the food is excellent.
On my visit to Shoreditch, I opened with Buffalo Mozzarella which had been dusted with wild oregano and a zingy olive oil. There was bread around, but who wants to spoil the fun of eating a whole ball of deliciously flavoured cheese?
Next was Tagliarini with Dorset crab. This is a classic dish. We’ve all had it a million times. So there are two quality tests: Is the pasta perfectly cooked? (It was.) Does the chilli complement the crab or overwhelm it? (Complements. Perfectly.) Does the flavour of the crab permeate the whole dish? (It did.) Winner.
There was also an order of fried zucchini (or courgette, if you must). Crunchy coating, but still lots of flavour and texture from the zuchinni.
Coffee. No dessert. Off to record a podcast.
At Borough Market, I stupidly didn’t bring my notes from Shoreditch. So I ordered cheese again. This time is was burrata, still with a hit or oregano. Still tasty. Now even more decadent.
And speaking of decadence, I plotted the second visit because I was eager to try “Fettucine with chicken liver, sage, and marsala.” It sounded mildly adventurous and super rich with flavours I love. And I’m glad I went back for it. The dish was everything I’d hoped and then some.
Because I’m a professional, I felt I couldn’t write a complete review that really delivered for you, the reader, unless I tried the Tiramisu.
And it was awful. A real trial. I couldn’t believe it had come from the same kitchen as all of the other stuff.
No. That’s ridiculous. Of course it was amazing. A fantastic hit of espresso. Wonderful cream. Delicious lady fingers. But sadly, no time for a nap afterwards.
Bottom line: Padella is great. If you’re going to Borough Market, either go early or be ready to hang around for a little while. Though seats turn fast at lunch. If you’re going to Shoreditch, you need to book.
So, for Professional Lunch, Shoreditch is the much better option. Comfortable tables win over the counter in our context, and the ability to book is worth its weight in burrata.
Bottom line: I’m finishing this review in a hotel room in Florence, where I have been eating superb, homemade pasta all weekend. Padella isn’t really Tuscan, so the locals would look at it askance, but for quality of its pasta, it would fit just fine on a Florentine back street .
Thanks for reading my review of Padella. What’s your favourite spot for pasta? Let me know in the comments, and please subscribe if you haven’t already.