Where to dine like a mob wife in London (2024)

The ultimate “mob wife” is Carmela Soprano. In the seminal show the Sopranos, perhaps the best TV drama ever made, Carmela is often seen enjoying a candlelit meal, somewhere straddling a fine margin: sultry and romantic, but familiar and safe. And Italian, or Italian American: very much the genre of the moment in London. As is mob wife style: big, bold, vampy. If you’re wrapping up in furs, make sure the meal fits.

Where might Carmela venture to in London? London is having a big “red sauce” Italian moment — New York-style joints where meatballs and parmigiana are the order of the day. So probably one of those.

Or she might return to the old country. The capital has long been a hotbed of chic, high-end Italian dining; Milanese and Tuscan imports. Here is a list featuring both, where a typical mob wife might spend some of that hard-earned money.

The Standard’s David Ellis called The Dover the “hottest table in town” only two weeks ago. And it is. A romantic, intimate space designed to the brief: “Well, Sophia Loren goes to Brooklyn, eats a bowl of spaghetti meatballs, and Al Pacino is her boyfriend.” Enough said.

Grasso opened quietly at the tail end of 2023 and yet its food is as loud as anything: grandma’s meatballs, honey-flecked mozzarella sticks, penne alla vodka and a broad tiramisu. The Standard’s Jimi Famurewa found some fault with the food — it is not executed as smartly as it could be. But then these sorts of restaurants are never solely about culinary nous.

A “suave, elegant homage to Italian tradition, whether Palermo, Sicily, or family run ristorante in New Jersey,” Big Mamma says of its most recent endeavour, Carlotta. It is an altogether more sophisticated experience in a group known for being brash and shrouded in whimsy, but like Grasso, this is not a restaurant for the very keenest of gastronomes — do not take an earnest type who believes themself to be a “foodie”. But do go for a night of fun.

Sette is a restaurant via New York via Italy, a London version of Manhattan’s famous Scarpetta. And so it is meta: a restaurant that in the US tries to be authentically Italian, but inevitably — and by no means upsettingly — picks up Americanisms along the way. And so it might be the closest thing we get to a true New York Italian over here, though it also means it isn’t a “red sauce” iteration.

If there is such a thing as a “London Italian” — in the same way that Yard Sale has long been considered the closest thing we get to London pizza in that regard — Ciao Bella is it. Here we have the best of frivolity, of joviality; it is somewhere for the hungry, in appetite and for convivial times, and if nothing else, the portions of spaghetti, zucchini fritti and the like are enormous. And highly affordable.

If there is any restaurant suited to mob wives, it is Bardo St James, a subterranean, moody space in shades of burgundy and white. Is there jazz? Yes, often, on the stage at the back. It is the pinnacle of Italian elegance, plush and dim-lit — where your dad might take his mistress for truffle-topped situations. But not Tony Soprano, because Carmela is already there, dining on seared red prawns with a crisp Gavi di Gavi.

Rod Stewart is not a mob wife, but he does look a little like one. In any case, he’s a fan of Sale e Pepe, or used to be, not least because it’s tucked away in a quiet corner of Knightsbridge. Here the food is simple but gently affecting — veal Milanese, linguine vongole, penne arrabiata are on the menu, and all cooked well. The wine list is pleasing, too, a place to find Barolo and Amarone, and the restaurant is in its 50th year, so is likely to prove a hoot.

Giannino might be a distinctly old country, except the Sopranos’ ancestors are from the south and Giannino is unfailingly Milanese. Whatever, it is suited to suited occasions — a high-end, glitzy and gilded affair that provides warmth by way of fine service, plush design and dishes such as tuna tartare, lemon ravioli and porchetta.

A big finish. Giuseppe Cipriani Senior founded Harry’s Bar in Venice in 1931. It soon became a haunt for writers, painters, artists and actors. Think Katherine Hepburn, Orson Welles and Joe di Maggio. Cipriani is an international group today. New York was an early follow to the Venetian original; London’s outpost opened 20 years ago. It is glamorous. There will never not be white tablecloths. Get the risotto, the carpaccio and get a bottle of Super Tuscan.

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