6 hours ago
10
Osteria Vibrato appeared last month on Greek Street, Soho, feeling to any passerby just like any other neutral-fronted Italian restaurant in this pasta-swamped part of the capital. Not much to see here. Pushing your face against the window wouldn’t achieve much, either, apart from an unsightly smear.
Meanwhile, all the in-the-know people – that bunch of infuriating, generously paunched “foodies” who keep London restaurant gossip alive – understood that this particular osteria is the latest opening by Charlie Mellor, former proprietor of the Laughing Heart in Hackney, which opened in 2016 and very quickly became favoured by chefs and industry media types alike, because it took food very seriously, stayed open late and danced a dainty line between debauched and old-school cosseting. It sold pumpkin cappelletti with sage, and chicken liver paté with crisp chicken skin and jellied walnut liqueur. The room was furnished with quirky tables complete with cutlery drawers, and there seemed to be a never-ending party going on in the ground-floor bar. Mellor, the star of the show, led the charge: warm, serious yet with a great capacity for silliness, though weirdly omniscient as to who needed what and when.
Much has been made of the fact that, before becoming a sommelier, Mellor was a classically trained opera singer, which is a great angle for a food writer, but which might leave others trying to enjoy their fritto misto with thoughts of the Go Compare man filling their heads. Mellor has again leant into notions of musicality at his new place, the term vibrato being a vocal effect, after all. In fact, while we were tearing our way through starters of gratinated mussels and Sicilian red prawns, we enjoyed the talents of someone from nearby Ronnie Scott’s tinkling away on the piano.
That said, Osteria Vibrato is certainly a more adult affair than the Laughing Heart ever was, not least because 10 years is a long time and this is in the West End, just down the road from the much-adored (not least by myself) Noble Rot, where the clientele are more prone to sipping La Grange Tiphaine chenin blanc, rather than, say, drinking two litres of cheap skin-contact wine and falling down the stairs after trying to dance to MGMT. Vibrato describes itself as “timeless”, and it is: the flooring is gorgeous, there’s dark panelling and archly cool, eclectic art on the walls. There’s also a sexy little sit-up cocktail bar tucked away at the back, where you can drink a Death In Venice (Campari, prosecco and strawberry) or a Paper Plane (bourbon, Aperol, amaro, lemon, nectarine). There are also about 300 wines on the list, which is what happens when you let a pair of sommeliers run a place – Mellor is joined here by his friend and fellow sommelier Cameron Dewar. The kitchen, meanwhile, is run by Gaia Enria, ex of the now-defunct Burro e Salvia in Shoreditch; and Louis Lingford, formerly of Quo Vadis two streets over on Dean Street.
Pre-opening, rumour had it that Vibrato’s menu was only in Italian, so hard luck if you don’t speak the language, but it turned out that this was nonsense: if you spent more time in Troon than in Tuscany as a child, there is an English version, too, which name-checks the Italian region of every dish. The cooking is precise, proud and purposeful. Complimentary mother-in-law’s tongues – thin, crisp, salty crackers topped with rosemary and served with olives – give way to prettily presented veal tartare. Those chunky mussels come topped with a herby, crunchy gratin. Then we’re on to a pale, generous pile of seafood fritto misto that’s well worth every single one of its judiciously battered calories. Glossy, deep-red, grilled Sicilian prawns are doused in lemon and excellent olive oil (NB several dishes here turn up drizzled in olive oils that come with their own CVs and cost the same as gold).
We shared shaved artichokes with pecorino romano, followed by a white risotto that’s as close to heaven as I’ll ever get on Earth. Did we really need the grilled sole with Pantelleria capers afterwards? No, but it was gorgeous, especially with the simple house salad on the side. Strictly speaking, we didn’t need the freshly baked amaretti straight from the oven, which take 12 minutes to make, but if you’ve gone hard on that risotto or the ricotta tortelli with tomato and butter, you will need that time to recover.
Mellor is a gem and Vibrato has all the makings of an institution. There is a place right now for this sort of old-fashioned hospitality. It’s not just dinner; it’s more of a holding space for decorum and not acting like a berk: good restaurants are an antidote to this cruel, grubby world. Vibrato may only just be getting going, but it’s already worth singing loudly about.
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Osteria Vibrato 6 Greek Street, London W1, 020-3326 5231. Open lunch all week, 12.30-4pm (5pm Sun), dinner Mon-Sat, 5-10.30pm (10.45pm Fri & Sat). From about £70 a head for three courses, plus drinks & service
