| Bocca di Lupo | |
|---|---|
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| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 2008 |
| Owner(s) | Jacob Kenedy, Victor Hugo |
| Food type | Italian cuisine |
| Street address | 12 Archer Street |
| City | London |
| Postal/ZIP Code | W1D 7BB |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Website | www.boccadilupo.com |
Bocca di Lupo is a small Italian restaurant on Archer Street in London'sSoho district rated the best London restaurant inTime Out magazine's 2009 listing. It won "Best Wine List" award inTatler magazine's 2013 restaurant awards,[1] as well as aMichelin Guide "Bib Gourmand" award.[2] TheTime Out award was attributed partly to the restaurant's bargain prices, which increased significantly as its popularity grew. Bocca di Lupo serves cuisine from a variety of Italian regions, with each dish's origin labelled on the menu.
The restaurant was started by chef Jacob Kenedy and his business partner Victor Hugo in 2008,[3] with funding and advice from Kenedy's entrepreneur uncle David Cleevely.[2] Kenedy, who attended theUniversity of Cambridge,[4] and Hugo had both worked at Moro restaurant in London'sExmouth Market before starting Bocca di Lupo.[3] The restaurant was so successful that it was described as "profitable within weeks"[2] despite, or because of, opening at "the height of thecredit crunch".[5]
Bocca di Lupo means "wolf mouth"; in Italian the phrase is used to refer to either atrou de loup (a defensive obstacle), a type of pastry, or a basement ventilation opening.[6] The restaurant owners use it to refer to the related Italian sayingin bocca al lupo, a traditional Italian equivalent of the English saying "break a leg";[5] Bocca di Lupo's website is also headed by the English motto "For when you're hungry like the wolf".[7]
TheTime Out award was attributed to the restaurant's strong menu, good food and good value for money.Time Out's food and drink editor Guy Dimond said that previous winners of the listing missed out in 2009 because that year's awards focused more on affordable eating experiences, which favoured Bocca di Lupo.[3] The menu's listing of regions of origin for each dish drew appreciation from one critic for the level of detail,[5] but was seen by another as revealing a lack of authentic Italian devotion to a single region. The same critic also derided etched panels with Italian wording that "like aPeckham greengrocer, boast arogue apostrophe".[8]
In 2012 the menu was described as "changing daily".[4] Noted were the pork andfoie gras sausages, andsanguinaccio dolce, a dessert ofchocolate pudding flavoured with pig's blood.[5][8]
Bocca di Lupo's early critical popularity, which also included winning aMichelin Guide "Bib Gourmand" award,[2] was described by some critics as having negatively impacted the experience, with tables very hard to book and prices increasing from the bargain levels that had contributed to the initial success[8] – in 2010 it was described byThe Observer as "not cheap, but worth every penny."[9] The restaurant went on to win the "Best Wine List" award inTatler magazine's 2013 restaurant awards.[1]
Cleevely had purchased thefreehold on the small site for about two and a half million pounds, taking the view that if a prime site was required, the huge risks of founding a new restaurant meant that it was better to own the property asset outright rather than enter into an expensive and difficult-to-endlease.[2] The restaurant has a longCarrara marble bar for lighter meals, overlooking an open-plan kitchen, with the windowless main dining room at the back[5] as well as a separate room that can be booked for private functions.[7] It is decorated with large still-life paintings by Kenedy's mother, artist Haide Becker.[8] Bocca di Lupo has been described as "small and slightly chaotic", with only fourteen tables.[4]
In 2013 Kenedy publicly smashed five bottles ofred wine from one of his suppliers, Italian fine wine merchant Fulvio Bressan, on the street in front of the restaurant, in protest at aFacebook post by Bressan which used theracist epithetsporca scimmia nera about Italy's recently appointed minister for integrationCécile Kyenge.[10] Kenedy described Bressan as "not only a racist" but "also a spineless one" after Bressan deleted the post to minimise its impact. Bocca di Lupo no longer stocks wine from Bressan.[11]
Jacob Kenedy opened anice-cream parlour called Gelupo in 2010 opposite the restaurant on Archer Street. The gelateria has appeared on 'best ice creams in London' lists, including Time Out[12] and the Evening Standard.[13] The blood orangegranita[14] was cited as one of the top dishes in London in 2012 and they regularly produce unusual flavours such as theCoronation Chicken gelato for the Queen'sDiamond Jubilee.[15] Prior to opening Gelupo, Jacob Kenedy learnt gelato-making at Gelatauro inBologna.[16]
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In September 2015 the team behind Bocca Di Lupo opened an Italianstreet food counter-service restaurant called VICO onCambridge Circus.[17] The concept changed in December 2015 into a Southern Italiantable-service restaurant,[18] which subsequently won a Bib Gourmand in theMichelin Guide.[19]
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51°30′42″N0°08′02″W / 51.51165°N 0.13395°W /51.51165; -0.13395
