Polpo has a relaxed style and unashamedly simple, tasty menu.

The Venue
Just round the corner from the hustle and bustle of Carnaby Street, Polpo has successfully created a balance of sophistication and rusticity, fitting for a London based bacaro, a Venetian wine bar and restaurant. A lot of thought has gone into getting the style of this place just right even down to the antique Victorian accessories in the toilets. On entering the restaurant you are greeted by a simply designed, modern-looking bar and a long dining room with white tiles and exposed brickwork. As well as the cosy tables, there is also seating along the bar. The location is perfect for such a venture as it was once home to 18th century Venetian artist Canaletto.

The Atmosphere
Even Mark Hix, who owns Hix restaurant around the corner, sees fit to unwind here and understandably so; it’s a perfect blend of class and informality. The place has a real buzz about it. This can turn into a roar noise-wise as the evening progresses, but not in an unpleasant way. Although Polpo takes bookings at lunchtime it operates a no bookings policy at dinner, so you may well have to queue to get a seat and, as a consequence, diners near the door can end up getting to know the people waiting to replace them a little better than expected. Despite this, the staff seem unconcerned about table turning, so you can happily while away your time trying out a little or a lot of what you fancy from the food or wine menu.

The Food
Similar to tapas, the cicheti on the menu are small dishes with reasonable price tags (£1 - £2.10) designed to be mixed and matched. Printed on Italian butchers paper, the menu also contains slightly larger dishes, which are equally well priced. With unpretentious names like a plate of cold meat (£11.80) or mussels and clams (£5.80) chef Tom Oldroyd shows confidence in his ingredients. He mixes simplicity and quality to great effect. The menu pays homage to its Venetian concept with dishes such as bigoli, thick, rough spaghetti-like pasta with a good bite to it, served with anchovies and melted onions, currently the only pasta dish on the menu (£4.40), and the black, slightly ominous looking cuttlefish in its own ink with gremolata (£6.20) which proves to be subtle, tender and perfectly balanced.

You can also find more generic Italian dishes such as prosciutto with buffalo mozzarella (£2.10, from the list of cicheti) and a dessert of cantuccini with vin santo (£3.90), almond and pistachio biscuits with a glass of wine. There’s also ham and piccalilli tramezzini (£1.80), little sandwiches with the crusts cut off, which, despite being made with Italian ham, seems quite British. A particular star of the show is pork belly, radicchio and hazelnuts (£5.70), the pork a perfect combination of crunchy crackling, creamy fat and tender meat complemented by the bitterness or radicchio and the sweetness of the nuts.

The Drink
As well as a good selection of Italian wines (starting at £13.50) which are served from rustic antique and vintage jugs, Polpo also has a range of cocktails, aperitifs and digestifs. The Spritz (£4) is a moreish kind of spritzer served with Aperol or Campari. Finish your meal with a digestif, such as Cynar (£2.80), made from artichokes, which has a slightly bitter, medicinal taste, or Amaro Montenegro (£2.70), which is not unlike an alcoholic dandelion and burdock drink.

The Last Word
With reasonably priced food and a friendly atmosphere, the buzz about Polpo will continue to get louder.

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