What is it?
This is a new home for Polpetto which was squeezed into the upstairs dining room at the French House and has now relocated to more spacious accommodation. The chef is Florence Knight.
Where is it?
On Berwick Street by the market.
Where should I meet friends for a drink beforehand?
Having been irked by previous diners giving all their pre-prandial drinks money to the French House downstairs, owner Russell Norman has squeezed in a bar at the front of Polpetto with some cunning seating along the wall inspired by a similar arrangement in the tramshed he spotted in Soller in Northern Mallorca. The cocktail list is small, but seasonally informed with an additional drink of the day on the main menu.
Where should I sit?
If you're a group, there's a large table for five by the bar that's good and for couples you'll ideally want one of the booths along the left hand side of the room. Downstairs is a semi-private dining room/chef's table that seats 15 which is going to be a very popular table for groups and which gives you a perfect view into the kitchen.
What's on the menu?
Even before we'd been in through the doors, our Twitter feed was telling us the dishes that were quickly becoming standouts. So we worked our way through the menu, ordering some small dishes for starters - a plate of salty Sardinian Camone tomatoes dressed with nothing more than olive oil and a generous knot of burrata with chilli and agretti - a sort of succulant plant.
From here we moved on to larger dishes - a bowl of veal cheeks cooked slow and low in white wine and, on the recommendation of Russell himself, Florence's take on Caesar salad - cavolo nero with anchovies and crumbly chunks of burnt bread. But our favourite, and the one you're going to have to order if you don't want to miss out - was the bacon chop. This was a smoky beautifully cooked piece of meat that was brilliantly paired with walnuts and whitty pear butter, which is actually more of a jam.
We'd saved room for desserts, thank God, and you'll want to as well. Fried pecorino drizzled in honey was great and in any other place would have the dish we'd urge you to have. But it was totally eclipsed by the maple custard tart - conceived of by Florence and expertly realised by her 20-year-old pastry chef Maisie MacDonald. This was a thing of wobblybeauty and the only custard tart we've had in London to compete on a level footing with Marcus Wareing's one at the Savoy
What about drinks?
As with Polpo and Ape & Bird, the drinks list is one of the better bargains in town. House white starts at £7 for a 250ml jug.
Overall thoughts
The return of this much-loved restaurant is going to be welcome news for Florence's legions of fans. The new restaurant may be bigger but - as you'd expect from Russell Norman - the design is such that it's just as atmospheric as Polpetto's previous room. The addition of a bar adds to the allure and already it seems like Polpetto's been here forever.
Polpetto is at 11 Berwick Street, London W1F 0PL. Find out more about Polpetto.
Prices were correct at time of writing. Hot Dinners ate as guests of Polpetto.
