In memoriam: Russell Norman (1965 – 2023)

(Image credit: Photography: Jenny Zarins. Courtesy of Ebury Press)

British restaurateur and author Russell Norman has passed away at the age of 57, as confirmed by his partner. Norman is known for his notable contributions to the restaurant industry, introducing the concept of Italian small plates and breathing new life into the Negroni cocktail.

Having earned the title of the ‘new king of Soho dining’ in 2012, Norman had a diverse career in London's most iconic restaurants before co-founding the independent restaurant company Polpo with his close friend Richard Beatty in 2009. They then continued to establish restaurants in central London, including Spuntino and Mishkin's.

Norman's book, Polpo: A Venetian Cookbook (of Sorts), was Waterstones Book of the Year in 2012. This success was further augmented by the BBC2 documentary series The Restaurant Man in 2014. His second book, Spuntino: Comfort Food, New York Style, received the 2016 Guild of Food Writers Award for the best food and travel book.

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In 2018, his third book, Venice: Four Seasons of Home Cooking, was released. He described the writing process as an 'exile' to the beautiful city to 'learn to cook like a 90-year-old Venetian granny'. Norman continued to make culinary waves, opening a new restaurant, Trattoria Brutto, a traditional Florentine-style trattoria in Farringdon, in 2021. Just last month, he released his latest cookbook, Brutto: A Simple Florentine Cookbook, published by Ebury Press.

Sofia de la Cruz is the Travel Editor at Wallpaper*. A self-declared flâneuse, she feels most inspired when taking the role of a cultural observer – chronicling the essence of cities and remote corners through their nuances, rituals, and people. Her work lives at the intersection of art, design, and culture, often shaped by conversations with the photographers who capture these worlds through their lens.