We’ve been waiting for what feels like an eternity for Vico: Jacob Kenedy and Victor Hugo’s Soho Italian Bocca di Lupo has become a bona fide hit – can they replicate that success with this prime spot on Cambridge Circus? We deliver our verdict…
The former Pizza Hut site has been transformed via a somewhat confusing concept of Italian street food served up from counters with no menu, no queuing system and prices determined by the weight of the food (£3 per 100g). The casual interior tries to recreate a bustling piazza in Italy, complete with strings of bright carnival lights and Italian radio in the background, and you eat with your hands at tall tables or perched on the stone steps lining the room.
The daily selection is prepared using whatever's fresh and in season, so deep-pan pizzas with stuffed crusts have been replaced with a more authentic selection by the slice. We tried vibrant pizza rosa with anchovies, and pizza cruda topped with fresh rocket, mozzarella, prosciutto and datterino. Hot bites included top-notch pumpkin arancini (above) and other deep-fried balls (polpette) such as lasagnancino (fried chunks of lasagne), sadly sold out on our visit, so we can't comment. Fish is fried to order. As an antidote to all that frying, tasty salads might include rabbit, fennel, farro and red onion, or chickpea aubergine and tomato. Great gelatos from the separate Gelupo counter satisfy sweet cravings, while drinks (all priced at £3.50) include wine, Birra Moretti and Aperol Spritz. On the whole, most dishes deliver – though some polpette were unpleasantly spongy and had simply been left on the counter too long – and it’s a cheap, quick, no-fuss way to grab a bite.
On the downside, plastic pots and cheap metal trays aren't the best way to showcase decent ingredients. It's like Vico wants to be a cool street food market when it grows up, but at the moment it's a noisy teenager demanding pizza and ice cream.
This article was published 16 September 2015