Flour & Grape, London
Flour & Grape make bloody good pasta. I’ve been a number of times now and have never left disappointed. It sits right down at the far end of Bermondsey Street, which has quietly become one of the best food streets in London. It manages to feel busy without being too polished, full of wine bars, bakeries, restaurants and people lingering outside with drinks when the weather is good. It’s one of those parts of London that still feels genuinely enjoyable to spend time in.
A couple of years ago, getting into Flour & Grape involved a proper queue, especially at peak times. They don’t take reservations for smaller tables, and there was a period where you really had to commit to waiting outside with everyone else hoping for pasta. The last few times we’ve gone, though, it’s been much easier to walk in. This is excellent news because the quality of the food hasn’t dropped at all.
The menu revolves around homemade pasta, and that is absolutely what you’re here for. The starters are all very good. Burrata, charcuterie, artichokes with miso dressing. But honestly, they feel slightly secondary once the pasta arrives. If you can, the best approach is to share multiple pastas between two people so you can try a proper range.
The pappardelle with beef short rib ragù seems to permanently survive every menu change, which tells you everything you need to know. Rich, slow-cooked, deeply comforting, exactly the kind of pasta dish you hope for when you come somewhere like this. If it’s your first visit, get it.
On previous trips we’ve had a simple cacio e pepe, which was excellent in that deceptively simple way where you realise how hard it is to get something so basic exactly right.
Most recently, the standout was a giant tortellini filled with slow-cooked pork shoulder and covered in sage butter. There are very few situations where sage butter does not improve what you are eating.
But my favourite dish I’ve had here was from an autumn menu last year, the gigli with fennel sausage ragù and autumn greens. This recipe lives inside of my soul. Rich but bright at the same time, deeply savoury from the sausage, slightly bitter from the greens, it tasted exactly like cold weather and red wine season. I became so obsessed with it that I taught myself to make a version at home and now cook it constantly through autumn and winter.
That’s probably what Flour & Grape does best. London has plenty of expensive restaurants trying to reinvent pasta. Flour & Grape just quietly makes some of the best in the city.
