Smack-bang on Old Street roundabout is Passo, a spacious and super-sleek Italian joint offering pasta, pizza and cocktails, plus an appealing breakfast menu for early risers.
The vibe here isn’t especially Italian: sand-coloured wood, peach lighting and natural rattan rugs make it feel more like a classy beachside restaurant in the Balearics. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with that.
The food shows more signs of Italian heritage. An antipasto of tender meatballs made from beef and mortadella (a large Italian sausage) basking in a sweet, sumptuous tomato sauce bulged with peppery flavours. More of that, please! An on-trend burrata, here served with basil oil and fresh mint, was sadly sold out on the night I visited. A plate of tagliatelle sloshed in truffle oil was damn truffley and a flavoursome hit, but the pasta was overcooked and clumpy. A spicy sausage and friarielli (a long, green, broccoli-like stem) pizza was rather ordinary too. The dough, cooked in the on-site clay oven, was well seasoned, but the flavours on top were underwhelming. Mozzarella was sparse and the tomato was lacklustre. Where, oh where had that heavenly sauce from the meatballs got to?
Thankfully, deep-fried ricotta parcels with Nutella dipping sauce to finish were fun (I mean, obvs – there was Nutella!), while the house chocolate cake, pimped up with a scoop of spicy cinnamon ice cream, was pillowy light.