The smart signage on the facade at 88 St John Street is the first indication of what to expect from Luca, the latest venture from the trio behind the multi award-winning, Michelin starred Clove Club. Inspired by 1950s art deco Italian graphic design and typography, the visual identity created by London-based design studio EverythingInBetween underpins Isaac McHale, Daniel Willis and Johnny Smith’s ‘Britalian’ – Italian dishes made with English ingredients – concept.
Peek behind the bottle green curtains and the devilishly lit bar area, with its Alexander Waterworth sage green leather booths, dark wood floors and a calacatta porcelain bar with mottled back wall tiles will entice you in. Beyond this you’ll find an understated 124-cover dining room with semi open kitchen, where head chef Robert Chambers, formerly of Locanda Locatelli and The Ledbury, cooks up anti pasti pasta and heartier mains in the vein of turnip tops, samphire, smoked cod’s roe and sweet butter and spaghettini with Morecambe Bay shrimps and mace butter. A sampler of cured meats and small plates is available to perch with at the bar.
There are two private dining rooms, one of which doubles as a pasta preparation and demonstration area, ornamented with earthy, neutral-hued tableware, and a leafy courtyard that will provide the perfect spot in which to retire with a house-made Nocino on the rocks, come summer time.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
88 St John Street
-
This cult Los Angeles pop-up restaurant now has a permanent addressChef Brian Baik’s Corridor 109 makes its permanent debut in Melrose Hill. No surprise, it's now one of the hardest tables in town to book
-
French bistro restaurant Maset channels the ease of the Mediterranean in LondonThis Marylebone restaurant is shaped by the coastal flavours, materials and rhythms of southern France
-
How ethical is Google Street View, asks Jon Rafman in CopenhagenIn 'Report a Concern - the Nine Eyes Archives' at Louisiana Museum of Art, Copenhagen, Jon Rafman considers technology's existential implications
-
French bistro restaurant Maset channels the ease of the Mediterranean in London
This Marylebone restaurant is shaped by the coastal flavours, materials and rhythms of southern France
-
Sir Devonshire Square is a new kind of hotel for the City of LondonA Dutch hospitality group makes its London debut with a design-forward hotel offering a lighter, more playful take on the City’s usual formality
-
This sculptural London seafood restaurant was shaped by ‘the emotions of the sea’In Hanover Square, Mazarine pairs a bold, pearlescent interior with modern coastal cuisine led by ‘bistronomy’ pioneer chef Thierry Laborde
-
Montcalm Mayfair opens a new chapter for a once-overlooked London hotelA thoughtful reinvention brings craftsmanship, character and an unexpected sense of warmth to a London hotel that was never previously on the radar
-
Follow the white rabbit to London’s first Korean matcha houseTokkia, which translates to ‘Hey bunny’ in Korean, was designed by Stephenson-Edwards studio to feel like a modern burrow. Take a look inside
-
Poon’s returns in majestic form at Somerset HouseHome-style Chinese cooking refined through generations of the Poon family craft
-
One of London’s favourite coffee shops just opened in Harvey NicholsKuro Coffee’s latest outpost brings its Japanese-inspired design to the London department store
-
Enjoy a Kyoto-inspired menu with London attitude at this new restaurantAki London offers a serene counterpoint to Oxford Circus, where stately interiors and elevated Japanese cooking cross paths
