Luca

88 Saint John Street

Clarke well

London EC1M 4EH

(nearest tube – Farringdon)

BY NEAL MARTIN | MAY 17, 2024

The Food:

Parmesan frites

Vitello tonnato, Tema artichoke, celery, capers and preserved lemon

Tortelli of delica pumpkin and amaretti with sage and pickled chili

Aged Hereford beef fillet, three-cornered leeks, morels and smoked bone marrow

Sicilian lemon tart with fennel ice cream

The Wines:

Q. Best list of Italian wine list in London?

A. Luca.

That’s that sorted out.

Let’s cut to the chase. Luca boasts a thick, juicy book of Italian vino that covers the entire ‘boot’, a mixture of marquee names and cult producers that is worthy of entry alone. It’s not a treasure trove of unmissable bargains; to that end, I don’t want to give the false impression of some backwater bistro naively adding 10% to wines bought just after the war. (C’mon, we all dream of those.) Our lunch bill was punchy despite steering wallets clear of Super-Tuscans and blue-chip Barolos. But what you do get for your hard-earned money is some of the best Italian food the capital currently offers, together with a gorgeous wine, irrespective of budget, in a restaurant that is beloved by all who enter.

The Luca exterior

Luca is a restaurant dressed to the nines. Its deep green façade looks inviting, although the casual passer-by might assume a small, well-turned-out bistro. Step inside, however, and you instantly realize this is a gastronomic Tardis (for those who don’t watch Doctor Who, much larger than it appears.) It seems to stretch on and on. I was convinced that this was my first visit. Passing the chichi marble cocktail bar that obliges a Negroni, then walking into the spacious rear terrace with its lofty glazed canted roof, I experienced déja vu. Indeed, it turns out dined at Luca with a fellow scribe soon after it opened in 2017, back when it was the hottest ticket in town. To be honest, that hasn’t changed, and it retains its kudos. The restaurant is under the same ownership as the much-lauded Clove Club (long overdue a Vinous Table), though the only thing the two have in common is popularity. Clove Club is renowned for innovative ingredients and dishes on the right side of outré, whereas Luca focuses on familiar fare, which is conservative in a non-pejorative way. The tagline? Italian dishes through a British lens. Its owners dub it ‘Britalian’. It's not the best portmanteau, but it's apt.

Parmesan frites

The soft leather banquets are the type that your backside sinks into and forewarn you won’t be moving for the foreseeable future. Luca effortlessly foments a happening vibe, though it’s quiet enough to chat. That said, there are moments when the music could have been turned down a notch. Three of us settle for lunch: Joel, who helped build the original Wine-Journal website, and David, whose expertise behind the camera lens you’ll find in every copy of my book and, indeed, my ugly mug on Vinous. It has been a long time since my friends met, 20 years in fact, and they have a lot of catching up to do, not least discussing the latest in very fast cars, which sadly excludes my own Nissan family runner.

Vitello tonnato, Tema artichoke, celery, capers and preserved lemon

A small plate of Parmesan frites is the obligatory amuse bouche. Don’t think of visiting Luca without ordering one of London’s legendary dishes. You might describe them as a kind of luxe cheesy churro; however, that fails to convey these gooey fingers of oozing deliciousness. It was difficult to resist taking more than one, much lighter and fluffier than you imagine.

Tortelli of delica pumpkin and amaretti with sage and pickled chili

The frites may be calorific, so this is balanced by my antipasti of Vitello tonnato, Tema artichoke, celery, capers and preserved lemon that my heart surgeon would be more approving of. The pressed cold veal is nuanced, with curls of artichoke sliced thinly and has a lovely sharpness. Perhaps I could add a few more capers, but this dish is infused with zingy vivacity that lights up the senses. I opt for the tortelli of delica pumpkin and amaretti with sage and pickled chili. This dish is iridescent, the pumpkin almost obliging sunglasses. This is beautifully balanced, and the sage lends adequate seasoning and a crunchy texture. Perhaps on reflection, I should have added a few more chili just to spice it up, yet the in-house pasta is perfectly al dente and amongst the best in London.

Aged Hereford beef fillet, three-cornered leeks, morels and smoked bone marrow

Three of us share aged Hereford beef fillet, three-cornered leeks, morels and smoked bone marrow. This is a stunning main course, and if I were to repeat this lunch, I might choose it for myself and skip either antipasti or primi. The fillet is irresistibly tender and perfectly cooked, the leeks succulent, and the smoked marrow generously smeared across the plate. It’s to die for. Perhaps the downside is the price, £48, which is why we shared.

Sicilian lemon tart with fennel ice cream

For dessert, Sicilian lemon tart with fennel ice cream. This is outstanding and perfectly executed. The ice cream is not shy about translating the fennel, though it is not overpowering. The lemon tart is exemplary, with a thin, light pastry and just a very slight charring on the surface that imparts a subtle bite.  

The restaurant offers an extremely reasonable corkage fee of £35 per bottle, limited to one per dining pair. Unusually, this is clearly stated on their website, something that I appreciate as it means both wine-lover and restaurant know where they stand before any booking is made, ergo, no unpleasant surprises. We buy one bottle for lunch, but alas, it is corked, so we order from their list. I advise giving yourself a few minutes to pour over this smorgasbord of wines because there are so many options.

We commence with the 2021 Etna Bianco Archineri from Pietradolce. My colleague, Erico Guido, is a fan of this wine. One sip, and I understand why. The aromatics offer tantalizing whiffs of the Mediterranean Sea, hints of iodine and green olive, understated yet gaining stature with aeration, just a background scent of dry straw mixed with oyster shell. The palate is extremely well-balanced, saline and focused, and it is fairly penetrating towards the finish. The perfect way to commence any lunch or dinner, this carries admirable intellectual weight and deliciousness. Alas, the 2016 Le Trame from Le Boncie that we paid corkage for shows some cork taint, which is infuriatingly not enough to disguise a seriously fine IGT from vineyards in Chianti Classico. So, we order the 2019 Chianti Classico from Caparsa. Slightly deeper in color for a Chianti Classico, this offers dark berry fruit, black olive and allspice on the nose, well-defined with a soupçon of anchovy. Some rusticity comes through on the broad-shouldered palate, structured for this category yet with plenty of freshness and a pleasing grippy, tobacco-tinged finish. I might be inclined to afford this another 12 months in the cellar. We finish with a cheeky half-bottle of the 2023 Moscato d’Asti from Paolo Sarraco. Vibrant on the nose with touches of orange blossom, menthol and lemon verbena, the palate has that light-hearted joie-de-vivre you seek on a Moscato, sprightly, unassuming, yet moreish. Moscato d’Asti should be fun and playful. Enjoy this over the next three or four years.

Along with Manteca and nearby Brutto, Luca is a must-visit for any Italian oenophile. It has a relaxed but paradoxically lively vibe, the interior spacious and airy, the kind of place that caters to dating couples, business lunches or old friends meeting for a chinwag like us. The cooking is uniformly top-grade, particularly in terms of sourcing ingredients and execution, and it is nothing outlandish but precise. Luca is not cheap, though where is these days? Service is friendly, and the sommeliers are knowledgeable.

Q. Best Italian restaurant in London?

A. Luca.

That’s that sorted out.

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