Ombra is opening a new restaurant serving lunchtime Roman pizza

East London’s lovely Ombra, which ever-so modestly calls itself ‘your fourth favourite Italian restaurant’ on social media, is celebrating its success over the past year by opening a new restaurant.

Ombra was one of the places that managed to pivot to a successful pandemic-friendly business model by offering picnics, meal kits, to-go sarnies and packs of cook-at-home pasta. Its new offering, which is situated in a railway arch just 50 or so metres away from the original restaurant’s current Vyner Street location in Hackney, will also serve as the production kitchen for all of Ombra’s pasta.  

The new spot is likely to be called Ombra Pastificio & Forno and will open in November following a yet-to-be-launched crowdfunder, which is aiming to raise at least £60,000. Chef-owner Mitshel Ibrahim told Eater London about the new restaurant, which will take the form of a weekday lunchtime café and a pizza and natural wine joint on Saturday and Sunday evenings. 

It will be ‘a bit like E5 [Bakehouse], with tables at the front, pasta-makers and bakers at the back,’ Ibrahim told Eater. The pizza served will be crispy, tray-baked Roman-style pizza. ‘I’m very much in love with Rome and all things Roman,’ said the Milan-born chef. ‘It’s the best place in Italy to eat.’

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