Cyndi Himmelstiere leaves E1 briefly and finds that Great Newport Street has a serious Italian kitchen worth knowing
Sartori Italian Restaurant Covent Garden: Southern Italian Cooking in Great Newport Street
In Shoreditch, the Italian restaurant occupies a specific position in the neighbourhood ecology: there are the very good ones, which are usually very small and book up weeks in advance, and there are the ones that have learned that a certain aesthetic and a passable pasta are sufficient to fill tables in a neighbourhood with enough disposable income and enough dining habits to sustain the competition. Sartori on Great Newport Street is the Covent Garden equivalent of the very good ones: a Southern Italian restaurant that takes the cooking seriously and produces results that justify a journey from E1.
Southern Italian cooking, specifically Neapolitan and Campanian cuisine, is different from the Northern Italian cooking that has tended to dominate London’s understanding of Italian food. The south uses different techniques, different ingredients, different flavour profiles. The tomato is more central. The olive oil is used more generously. The spicing is occasionally present in a way that Northern Italian cooking rarely is. The pizza is a Southern Italian invention and Sartori’s pizza reflects this heritage.
The Pizza
The pizza at Sartori is made from a dough that has been allowed to ferment for long enough to develop flavour as well as structure. The base, in the Neapolitan tradition, is thin at the centre and slightly thicker at the crust, with the char from a very hot oven that produces the characteristic leopard spotting of authentic Neapolitan pizza. The ingredients are sourced with care: the San Marzano tomatoes are the correct variety, the fior di latte mozzarella is fresh rather than aged, the extra virgin olive oil finished over the pizza has actual flavour.
The pizza Margherita is the correct starting order. It has the simplicity that allows the quality of each component to be assessed individually and the coherence that comes from those components being of uniform quality. The result is one of the better Margheritas available in central London, which is a meaningful statement given the competition.
The pizza Nduja is the other must-order: the Calabrian spreadable salumi is applied in the right quantity, producing heat and fat and depth without the oiliness that too much Nduja creates. The combination with the fior di latte and the tomato base is one of those flavour pairings that has been arrived at over time and that works for clear reasons.
The Pasta and the Rest
The pasta at Sartori is made in house and demonstrates the kitchen’s understanding of the Southern Italian pasta tradition. The spaghetti alle vongole is made with fresh clams, white wine, garlic, and parsley in the correct proportions, which means the brine of the clams and the acidity of the wine balance rather than compete. The pasta is cooked to the right point of doneness. The carbonara is made with guanciale and egg rather than pancetta and cream, which is the correct approach and one that not all London Italian restaurants maintain.
Visit Sartori and order the pizza Margherita first, then the Nduja. The London Prat covers London dining thoroughly. Bohiney Magazine has the wider context.
