As with last year's party, this evening ended very nicely with another impromptu trip to one of those places I'd heard of but never actually seen (like Indian Zing a month or so earlier). Bocca di Lupo is one of those Italian tapas places (very similar to Polpo) which are all the rage in Soho these days. It's apparently become super-fashionable to cut portions in half, tear down the kitchen wall and abolish dinner bookings for Soho's Italian experiences.
I suppose something in the area needed a re-vamp. Food in the eighties was all about the kind of overblown European (predominantly Italian) cuisine you could get in Soho, which gave way to the nineties miniature nouvelle faff, before British food came back in the last ten years. It seems the Soho restaurant Mafia (man I hope they exist) were biding their time before re-launching Italian food as a brand for the hipsters. Whichever way you look at it, Italian is popular in Soho again.
As with Polpo, one can see the attraction. It's busy, noisy and whitewashed. Back to the art opening with food instead of art, actually. Modern restaurants seem to either want to look like pop-up fashion boutiques or nineteenth century kitchens these days; both ridiculous notions unless the food is on song.
For the most part, Bocca di Lupo is right on. Mixing class with comfort isn't always easy but I think in this case the balance is fine. Fritto Misto was the same assorted battered seafood as the stuff we ate in Polpo but it was a cut above (left). The prawns, squid and aubergine were all delectably chewy and fresh - you could pick them out from the batter which, whilst hot, was also not greasy and added crunch and spruce to the dish, rather than distract from it.
We also ate a woodpigeon with polenta. If there's any dish that proves just how the culinary landscape of Soho has changed, this might be it. A fairly sophisticated idea; gamey, relatively off-piste meat with something so viscerally Italian you could grease your hair with it, yet served in such an uninterested, understated way. You want pigeon and polenta? Then that's exactly what you'll get (right). In the event it was nice; my common complaint with on-the-bone woodpigeon is that extracting the meat is a bit tiresome and this case was no exception. However, it was cooked well, the polenta was squishy and strong, so I shan't moan unfairly.
We also tried pasta, which is important at any Italian snack-house. Luckily for me, pappardelle was on the menu. I'm sure we've all come across cretinous types who suggest that pasta is all the same just in different shapes. Rubbish: those who know their stuff will attest to different types of pasta all lending unique qualities to a dish. Pappardelle is my favourite: thick, wide ribbons of just-chewy pasta are as good as it gets. Especially when combined with ox cheek, black pepper and tomato (left). Real heart of the earth stuff: it puts fire in your belly and a spring in your step. Of course, what is essentially fancy ragu with pasta could be considered a bit of a scam, but I'm enough of a believer in this to say it's worth the £8 for a starter portion you can get here. That's the price of ox cheek in Soho for you...We decided to reel ourselves in with dessert in TGI Fridays of all places, down on Coventry Street. Something about a cheap brownie with sauce and ice cream made it really feel like Christmas. Despite having to convince them that we were in fact allowed to sit and only order dessert, it was a lovely, tacky ending to a night in the tackiest season of them all.
And that was that. I hobbled out of town happy that we had enjoyed a fancy Italian sharing meal. And a Fridays dessert. Excluding the Fridays dessert, that's just about the best you can say for Bocca di Lupo. Forget the pretence, the trendiness and the fact that you're eating somewhere everyone thinks you should be eating and enjoy the food and the atmosphere. It's definitely worth it.
Bocca di Lupo
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