15/3/22 - updated with the opening date
As thoughts increasingly turn to comfort food, take heart in the knowledge there’s a new bakery, deli and pastificio on its way, and it’s all thanks to Ombra head chef and owner Mitshel Ibrahim. Ombra, which opened more than 11 years ago in Hackney, steadily gained an obsessive following for the quality of its Italian food and especially its innovative pivots during the pandemic, offering solace in takeaway fresh pasta and provisions, meal kits and home deliveries during the most troubling of times.
Now Milan-born Mitshel, who has also honed his skills at The Clove Club, is getting ready to open his new location Forno. It’s not a thousand miles away in concept (or indeed, location; it’s just across the road (and further down the canal) from Ombra, given Ombra’s all-things-grocery moonlighting when restaurants were unable to open.
At Forno, you’ll find an Italian deli with everything you might fancy for your larder: cold cuts, Italian cheeses, fresh sauces, filled pasta, wine and freshly baked bread. But they’ll also be serving up freshly baked maritozzi, cornetti and sfogliatelle at breakfast, through to soups and focaccia at lunch, and finishing up with the occasional night-time offering of Roman pizza and negronis. Since flexibility has been such a successful format for Mitshel, everything is available for takeway, or you can dine in (there'll be 10 seats inside, 20 outside).
More about Forno
Where is it? 332 Andrews Road, Hackney E8 4QF
When? 16 March 2023
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @forno.london
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