Spaghetti House has been bringing authentic Italian fare to Londoners for 50 years and is a welcome change to the more usual Italian eateries that dominate the capital.

The Venue
Inside there is an inviting, casual open bar where there is the opportunity to dine in a relaxed space. However, there is also a more formal dining area with wooden floors, which gives this place a feeling of a traditional Italian trattoria. A handful of outside tables provide the perfect place to go al fresco.

The Atmosphere
As with most trattoria or Italian ristorantes, once the crowd comes in there’s a genuine ambiance and feeling of well being of diners enjoying themselves. Tourists with their cameras and shopping bags fit in just as much as the couples and workers in the vicinity who have worked up an appetite all day.

The Food
Spaghetti House has an uncomplicated menu that serves up some traditional Italian favourites. For starters the baked mushrooms and melted gorgonzola cheese is always a good combination. The cheese just simply oozes out of the mushroom and is perfectly seasoned. A good drizzle of olive oil would round this simple dish off well. The whitebait is crispy and crunchy and is finished off with a touch of cayenne pepper. There is also a fresh tricolore salad of buffalo mozzarella, avocado and basil and a chunky minestrone soup.

Mains are solid, though a little more variation wouldn’t harm anyone. The fettuccine pesto with homemade basil pesto, parmesan cheese and pine kernels cannot fail to hit the spot, and neither can the al salmone e rucola with wild rucola, smoked salmon and cream. The pasta is cooked well and the sauces are as fresh as the ingredients. Try the house favorite tortelloni panna e funghi served with a cream and mushroom sauce.

Desserts are tempting and the doppio amaretto, which comes as two scoops of amaretto ice cream with crunchy nuts, is sweet, creamy and the nuts provide an additional crunchy texture. Highly recommended is the traditional zabaglione, which is a dessert incorporating whisked up egg yolks that are both warm and fluffy and sugar and marsala wine. It’s rich and has a definite fluffy factor, and this dish is meant to be shared between two people.

The Drink
Apart from the more authentic Italian wines on offer including a crisp, dry Frascati, deep fragrant Chianti and the Salice Salentino, which is a special reserve from Puglia with an intense fig flavour.

The Last Word
Spaghetti House works on many levels and will appeal to lots of diners, but the food and drink selection on offer could use a little more variety.

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