RESTAURANTS • First Word
The Skinny: As restaurateur duos go, it doesn’t get much hotter than actor Theo James (The White Lotus, The Gentlemen) and Carousel co-founder Ed Templeton. Both grew up in Highbury, so this leafy, affluent part of North London was the natural choice for their first joint venture, Lupa, which opened last month. Completing the trio and commanding the Roman comfort food menu is chef Naz Hassan, whose impressive resumé includes BiBi and Pidgin.
The Vibe: Very much a neighbourhood restaurant, Lupa is the sort of place you’d walk into on a Wednesday evening for a quick bowl of pasta and a glass of wine. Sadly, the celebrity angle means you’re unlikely to get a table until September (but do try SevenRooms’ ‘Alert Me’ option). It’s a tiny, acoustically challenged room, so go for buzzy evenings with mates, rather than quiet catch-ups.
The Food: The carbonara gets the most airtime on social media, but the secondi are the real stars of the menu. Porchetta is a perfectly moist spiral, stuffed with apricot and subtle herbs and finished with a crispy skin. It goes down well with a bowl of vignarola, a hot Roman vegetable stew of broad beans, peas and asparagus in a buttery, lemony, dill-spiked sauce. Pan-fried fish of the day (turbot, on our visit) is similarly buttery and flakes apart on the fork — add a scarpetta to mop up all that sauce.
As for dessert, homemade tiramisu is delightfully boozy and rich. The team opted for non-whipped mascarpone, sourced from a family-run dairy and containing a higher-than-usual ratio of cream to milk, and thus denser than your average tiramisu.
The Drink: Cocktails and wine are dispatched from a teeny-tiny bar along the back of the dining room, with a small, carefully curated list of Italian wines and a handful of mixed drinks, including a crowd-pleasing Negroni.
The Verdict: Diners hoping to glimpse the White Lotus star will likely be disappointed, but this light-filled neighbourhood spot is already packed to the rafters. On hot summer days, it’s a joy to saunter through Highbury Fields and pitch up for pasta and wine, but the colder months will make it a cosy place to enjoy the heartier comfort dishes.–Laura Price
→ Lupa (Finsbury Park) • 73 Highbury Park • Wed-Fri 530-11p, Sat 12-11p, Sun 12-10p • Book.