Review: Padella, London Bridge

Padella is hot right now. So hot that when we arrived at 6pm last week looking for a table, the next available was 9:30pm! Determined souls that we are, this time we (or rather Maureen!) got there by 5 and so managed to secure a table for 6:45. Was it worth it?

Well, yeah. This is absolutely top pasta, at really quite ludicrously good prices. We chuck down negronis at £5 a pop while waiting for antipasti. A fiver! Later I enjoy a good glass of dark Primitivo for a similar price. They kept the decor dead simple, black and white, stripped back. Staff are friendly enough but mainly super-super efficient. The vibe is definitely quick, casual eats.

Keeping it simple to start, with a bowl of lovely briny green olives and a burrata. This comes on a plate with a generous pour of golden and grassy olive oil, and a grind of pepper. It’s absolutely bloody perfect. Onto the pasta.

My lurid green plate of worms is nettle tagliarini. It comes with a warm, generous and gentle aroma of nutmeg, and a deeply amber egg yolk to stir into the verdant nest. The whole plate eats beautifully, and very easily. It’s a deceptively simple pleasure.

Maureen’s pappardelle is more excitement, with a fennel sausage and peppercorn ragu. This is really punchy and meaty, just balanced by the soft ribbons of perfect pasta.

We finish with a couple of slices of tart; one lemon, one almond with loquat, both lovely. The crazy thing about Padella is that this you couldn’t spend £20 on three courses even if you tried, and the drinks – including wine by the glass – are superb value too. No wonder the queues are epic.