Tavolino, a new neighbourhood restaurant located in the heart of London Bridge, which was to open in April, will now open its doors to the restaurant and outdoor terrace on Friday 31 July.
On the south bank of the River Thames, Tavolino will be split across two floors with floor-to-ceiling windows, flooding the room with natural light.
Located a stone’s throw from HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge, Tavolino boasts an impressive 70-seater outdoor terrace open for dining from lunch through to the evening with unrivalled views of the City and Tower of London.
The kitchen will be headed up by Louis Korovilas, formerly Head Chef of Bancone and godson of Giorgio Locatelli. Tavolino - meaning ‘small table’ – will serve simple dishes cooked with produce from across Italy and the UK, carefully sourced by Louis from individual suppliers.
Korovilas said, “I respect the Italian approach to cooking: a dedication to quality ingredients, eaten at their peak, with the flavours coaxed from each one.
'At Tavolino, we’ll be steering away from using overused produce of mediocre quality and have spent the last six months going directly to suppliers who have been perfecting their produce for several generations.
'For example, we’ve found the best Pecorino Sardo DOP and a 24-month aged Parmigiano Reggiano for our pastas, and our lemons are sourced directly from a farmer on the Amalfi coast.'
For lunch and dinner, guests at Tavolino can begin as the Italians do with a selection of bread baked in-house by pastry chef Taylor Sessegnon-Shakespeare including honeyed garlic focaccia, and an olive and parmesan roll.
Next, dishes for the table might include cured salume such as Tuscan fennel salami, or lardo and parmesan bombolini and zucchini fritti. Starters continue the focus on excellent Italian produce: there’s panelle, lardo, duck ham and whipped anchovy; and fresh burrata supplied by an artisanal dairy in Puglia, served with grilled zucchini scarpece.
Each morning, Louis and his team will make their own fresh pasta from scratch for dishes including his signature dish of silk handkerchief pasta sheets, with walnut butter and Burford Brown yolk; tagliatelle, spicy ‘nduja and pork ragù; and hand-rolled potato?gnocchi?with tomato, basil and Barilotto?cheese made with buffalo milk in Salerno.
A selection of pizzas are made Romagna-style on a thin, crispy sourdough base, topped with ingredients such as Puglian burrata, ‘nduja from Spilinga, black Taggiasca olives and Gorgonzola Riserva.
Moving onto secondi, there are cuts of meat and fish to share such as hake with ‘nduja and zucchini scarpece; and ribeye with ox heart tomato and gorgonzola bambolini. Desserts at Tavolino continue to let the ingredients take centre-stage, with dishes such as a balsamic vinegar chocolate mousse using a seven year-aged Aggazotti from Modena and an Amalfi lemon meringue.
