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Osteria Emilia

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Cuisine: Italian
£85 for two.

85 Fleet Road, NW3 2QY

Nearest Train: Hampstead Heath
Nearest Tube: Fleet Road

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Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, London Lite

 

Phone: 020 7433 3317

Open: Tues - Fri 6:30pm - 10pm
Sat 6:30pm -10:30pm

Dress code: Smart / Casual

Payment options: All major cards accepted

 

 

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Ham and not so high

 

Northern lights: regional dishes are the focus for owners Raffaele and Renate Giacobazzi and chef Stefano Lodi-Rizzini

Other reviews

• Mamma Mia, Osteria Emilia is bellissima

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Hampstead has never been great for restaurants, a strange deficiency given the heaps of wealth convened up here.

These premises used to host a friendly, shady and hugger-mugger Polish restaurant, Zamoyski, all dumplings and vodka, good value in its way. Now the place has been taken over by the Italian family who own it, the Giacobazzis, who have run a deli at 150 Fleet Road for many years, and reopened under a name modestly paying tribute to their region — they come from near Parma and Modena — rather than to themselves.

The rooms, upstairs and down, have been modernised and lightened up with a new skylight, whitewashed walls, modern plywood chairs and high-quality white linen. It may be illuminated a bit too much even: on our visit, the lighting felt all too bright and clinical, as if we were gathered for advanced dentistry rather than a good meal, let alone any kind of romantic encounter — though that’s a fault that could be remedied at the turn of a switch.

The Giacobazzis have also hired a chef from northern Italy, Stefano Lodi-Rizzini, who has previously worked at the Neal Street Cafe and the Walnut Tree Inn — and the short menu has a strong regional inflection, unlike the homogenised fare dished out by so many of London’s Italian restaurants.

“Tris de polenta” (£7.50) is a polentabased alternative to bruschetta. Three little pieces of grilled polenta came with intriguing toppings: a broad-bean purée with delicious shavings of “lardo di Colonnata” (not lard, but the delicacy of cured pork back fat from near Carrara, which the EEC once tried to suppress); a savoury mash of radicchio, gorgonzola and walnuts; and a mix of wild (or at least, unusual cultivated) mushrooms. But, even when grilled, polenta doesn’t stay crispy for long — it’s a bit of an acquired taste as a basic carb.

Ravioli filled with sea bass and mascarpone (£12) were just great, however, from the first mouthful to the last — the envelopes of egg pasta brightly yellow, the fishy stuffing coming through fresh and clear, served simply in butter and sage, accompanied by a refreshing dice of tomatoes. This couldn’t have been better done: simple and excellent.

Although I’ve caught lots of pike, to my shame it’s a fish I’ve eaten only in the form of quenelles and boudins, the long sharp bones being a notorious bugbear. In luccio al verde (£16.50), four fillet chunks, almost boneless, had been cooked, presumably in a court-bouillon, and served lukewarm, in a marinade of parsley, capers, anchovy and garlic and a good deal of olive oil, again accompanied by grilled polenta. Pike proves to have a clean, dense, white flesh, and it was good to find it on offer in London (freshwater fish remain highly valued in Italy) — but perhaps, save in the heat of summer, it would be tastier hot?

Osteria Emilia’s original take on saltimbocca (£17.50), on the other hand, is a winner — instead of veal these are thin, tender slices of farmed rabbit, with a piece of Parma ham and sage leaves, cooked in butter, flat rather than rolled up, and served with really good green beans. Again, this was the simple excellence one always hopes to find in Italian food — quite unimprovable in its way.

Raffaele Giacobazzi explained that they wanted to get away from the Italian restaurant cliché of veal — and back home his auntie still keeps rabbits ...

The simplest pudding, Semifreddo all’amaretto (£5), a parfait served with a chocolate sauce, had a gloriously tangy bitter almond taste and disappeared in moments, just like the small glass of incredibly good Moscatto (£3.50) that we tried. Mixed Italian cheeses (£7) included a piece of Parmesan coated with a winey reduction and came with quince paste, Mostarda di frutta and walnut bread. The short, all-Italian wine list begins with likeable house wines from the Veneto at £12.50 — and we shamed ourselves with a small bottle of San Pellegrino at a modest £1.30.

The service is as authentically Italian as the food, friendly and perhaps even a bit over-attentive — but the restaurant is bedding in, as the Giacobazzis admit. So Hampstead now has a really good, unpretentious and fairly priced Italian regional restaurant, to add to the hill-dwellers’ sense of contented superiority. Though Osteria Emilia is worth the climb — and descent — for the rest of us, too.

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.

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