“Bottomless lasagne for £20.”
That’s the pitch at Senza Fondo, a new restaurant and/or social experiment engineered to test the tensile limits of human digestive resilience, about to open in Shoreditch. It comes to us from first-time restaurateur Joe Worthington (a former Hawksmoor bar manager), who clearly saw London’s current love affair with small plates and said f**k that. A hero, basically.
The space he’s opening is going to be just south of Hoxton Square, in the centre of the neat little triangle created by Plates, Nest, and Happiness Forgets. By the looks of the renders, the décor is going to lean into full-throttle trattoria realness, with red chequered tablecloths, vintage posters, and a massive wood-fired oven.
At its molten core the place is a lasagne restaurant, and it’s all made by chef Chef Michael Bagnall (he’s done stints in Bruno, Naughty Piglets, Brunswick House, etc.) with either slow-cooked beef shin or artichoke. But there is, presumably out of a misplaced sense of obligation, other stuff on the menu too, including deep-fried mozzarella sticks, pizzette with pepperoni & hot honey, and a huge grilled wing rib on the bone, with beef jus & apple mostarda.
Then, to finish it all off, the dessert selection includes wood-fired apple pie, olive oil gelato, and a tiramisu that will no doubt, like all tiramisus, be described as ‘the best in London’ by at least one overeager patron.
There’s going to be a bar too, named after (real) Italian footballer Kevin Lasagna in a moment of branding inspiration that either transcends marketing or obliterates it entirely. But the important part is: they’re going to sling £5 negronis there.
But the cherry on top of all of this? At lunchtime you will be able to stroll past the hatch outside the restaurant, and procure yourself a ‘lasangwich’, which is exactly what it sounds like, and which sounds bloody great.
NOTE: Senza Fondo is set to open on February 20th. We’ll be back then with the full scoop. In the meantime, you can find out more and book at table at the Senza Fondo website.
Senza Fondo | 1 Rufus St, N1 6PE
Want to keep that finger jammed on the city’s culinary pulse? Here are the best new restaurant opening soon…