The modern trattoria derives from the famous Terrazza in Soho's Romilly Street, started in 1959 by Mario Cassandro and Franco Lagattolla. It was a desperately groovy but authentically Italian joint frequented by shrieky socialites, photographers, visiting film stars and the first wave of media tarts. It set the gold standard for trattoria life: a local, pop-in-for-supper restaurant, cheap and jolly, full of fiascos of chianti, elongated pepper grinders, joshing waiters and an aproned Neapolitan Mamma pinching your cheek and encouraging you to eat, eat or you will never find l'amore. Il Baretto is in the heart of Marylebone restaurant-land – the wonderful Anglo-Indian Trishna is next door, the Galvins' flagship round the corner in Baker Street – and promises old-fashioned trattoria virtues. Before its current incarnation, it...
[read full story]
powered by 