Osteria Angelina, London

After a stunning experience at Chishuru the previous evening, courtesy of my best friend, my birthday celebrations continued with a lunch at Osteria Angelina with my partner. If you live in London, you know that Osteria Angelina is the place to try this year. Sister restaurant to Dalston's much loved Angelina, it takes the restaurant's signature marriage of Japanese ingredients and techniques with Italian cooking and gives it a slightly more relaxed format. 

The focus is still firmly on exceptional produce, handmade pasta and cooking over charcoal, but with an à la carte menu. Having previously eaten at Angelina and thoroughly enjoyed their omakase inspired tasting menu, I was excited to see how the concept translated. Honestly, I am always dubious about fusion cuisine (I know it can be done well, but my previous experience has often been one of watered down flavours for unadventurous palates), but Angelina’s was very, very good.

You do need to be organised if you want a table, but booking Osteria Angelina isn't quite the Glastonbury ticket scramble that securing a reservation at Gymkhana has become. We booked around a month in advance and there was plenty of lunchtime availability. By the time our food arrived, every table was occupied, so it's clearly popular, but not impossible.

Of course, we started with the Hokkaido milk bread, served with jam and burnt honey butter. It was delicately sweet and soft and a perfect introduction to the rest of the meal.

My first choice was the scallop crudo with blood orange and soy-burnt butter, which was one of my favourite dishes of the afternoon. One of the things Osteria Angelina does particularly well is balancing sweetness and umami without either overwhelming the other. The sweetness of the scallop and blood orange lifted the rich, nutty butter beautifully.

Fully embracing feast mode, we also ordered the burrata with peach and watermelon ponzu, finished with crispy rice and seaweed. The fruit added freshness while the ponzu brought just enough acidity to stop the creamy burrata becoming heavy and the crispy rice provided that textural contrast. Alongside it came the soft-shell crab, which was beautifully cooked and elevated further by a side of sharp house pickles that cut through the richness perfectly.

For our mains, we made what some might consider a controversial decision in that we didn't order any pasta. At an Italian restaurant. In our defence, we'd already experienced Angelina's outstanding pasta during the tasting menu, and my partner really lives for risotto. It turned out to be an excellent decision. The risotto primavera with clams was exceptional. Silky, intensely savoury and packed with flavour, it was one of those dishes where you find yourself scraping every last spoonful of the unhinged sauce. Really one of the highlights of the meal.

Alongside it we shared the Gloucester dry-aged pork chop. While generous in size and reasonably priced, it was the only dish that didn't quite live up to the standard set by everything else. Ours was slightly overcooked, leaving it a touch drier than expected. Not bad by any means, but when every other plate was executed so precisely, it inevitably stood out.

The ox tongue, however, was extraordinary. Meltingly tender, deeply savoury and paired with kizami wasabi, it struck the perfect balance between richness and brightness. If you're someone who enjoys offal or lesser-used cuts, this is an absolute must-order.

Even the yakimono lettuce, which we ordered largely to introduce some greenery into an otherwise indulgent meal, proved memorable in its own right. Charred leaves coated in an umami dressing and topped with more of those wonderful crisp rice puffs transformed what could have been an afterthought into a great dish.

To finish, we shared the brûléed sesame cheesecake with matcha gelato. Although I don’t dislike it, I also don’t really understand the current matcha craze (I am an old lady who prefers my green tea loose leaf and warm.) Sesame, however, is one of my favourite flavours and here it absolutely stole the show. Nutty, deeply aromatic and only lightly sweet, it was a sophisticated end to an excellent meal.

Osteria Angelina is fusion cooking done well. Rather than relying on novelty, the Japanese and Italian influences genuinely complement one another, producing dishes that feel coherent and thoughtful. It made the perfect birthday lunch, and while the city's newest openings often struggle to live up to the hype, Osteria Angelina is one that genuinely deserves it.