This Italian-inspired restaurant with a British accent replaces short-lived Magpie, which shut its doors in early 2019. Magpie was overseen by restaurateurs James Ramsden and Sam Herlihy (who also operate Pidgin in Hackney), and their successors are similarly big names on London’s foodie scene.
David Carter from Smokestak in Shoreditch and Chris Leach from Petersham Nurseries are the pair behind the new iteration, simply called 10 Heddon Street. The restaurant’s main focus is handmade pasta, but guests can warm up their appetites with a selection of small plates first, which include grilled peach salad with smoked almond and ricotta salata, and fried ciccioli with apple ketchup.
When it comes to the freshly made pastas, dishes to try include garganelli with spicy pig tail ragu, rigatoni with pumpkin seed, pesto and anchovy, and sheep’s milk ricotta ravioli with Calabrian chilli oil, honey and poppy seeds.
10 Heddon Street’s other major theme is its in-house butchery and charcuterie, which means you can expect to try made-in-house salumi (Italian cold cuts predominantly made from pork), which arrives paired with focaccia.
The team source animals from British producers such as Gothelney Farm, using them to produce the likes of pancetta, chops and lardo. 10 Heddon Street is also passionate about nose-to-tail cuisine, which limits waste in restaurant kitchens; here, animal fat and skin are used in ragus, while bones help to make broths and stock which are used in dishes from the à la carte.
The restaurant boasts an informal atmosphere, and as is typical of London’s dining scene today, encourages diners to share their food. Speaking about the opening, co-founder Chris Leach said: “David and I have spent many evenings cooking, eating and drinking together, and always shared the same philosophy and approach to restaurants. When the Heddon Street site popped up, it was the perfect opportunity for us to collaborate together and have some fun.”