Now extending its all-day charms to evening dining from Thursday to Saturday, this casual spot is on the lesser-visited strip of Essex Road, which on the evening we visited was already pleasantly bustling. Styled as a 1950s Milanese diner (pillarbox red tiles, trendy terrazzo flooring, retro Italian produce), it’s easy to love, just like the menu. A combination of classic cicchetti, antipasti, pasta, pizza and meaty secondi, you’ll also find rarer delicacies on here, like vitello tonnato, or cacio e pepe arancini.
When it flexes its deli muscles, Latteria is first-rate: our antipasti board came with generous helpings of cured meat, from fennel salami and bresaola to mortadella and prosciutto, plus sott’olio (literally ‘under the oil’) artichokes and homemade rosemary focaccia. The ham and cheese arancini were grenade-sized. Then there was a dinner plate-sized chicken milanese with a fine, crisp coating, while a creamy burrata served over expertly dressed datterini tomatoes. Only the under-seasoned tagliatelle al ragù was a major disappointment: stick to the grazing dishes. But, sat on the fair-sized terrace, savouring the dynamite tiramisu, it’s clear that Essex Road locals have a gem on their hand.