Luciano by Gino D’Acampo

Last Updated on December 8, 2024

Autumn/Winter Italian-style in the Aldwych

I went along to Gino D’Acampo’s smart Italian restaurant Luciano to feast on their new Autumn/Winter menu. We received a very warm welcome on a crisp, cold day and ended up spending an enjoyable lunch long into the afternoon.

This is a spacious, comfortable place, awash with pastel blue upholstery and colourful murals featuring a lot of parrots. There’s an unobtrusive thrum of background music and lots of laughter coming from jolly tables of friends gathered for long lunches. Luckily, the acoustics are excellent.

We shared a bottle of the house white, the Grecanico Vialetto. From Sicily, this wine was crisp and drinkable with a strong floral note.

There’s a lot of choice on Luciano’s menu, which spans the usual swathe of Italian cuisine from pasta and pizza to secondi and grilled meats, with dishes from all over the country. For their autumn/winter menu you can expect seasonal ingredients such as olives, wild mushrooms, pumpkin, mussels and wild boar.

For my starter, I picked the mussels – the Cozze con crema. I was presented with a huge plate of plump mussels in a rich creamy sauce and three slices of toast to mop everything up.

My companion, meanwhile, was enjoying Luciano’s take on Arancini al ragù. Three crispy risotto balls with a filling of slow-cooked ragù and melting mozzarella are served here with a roasted red pepper and tomato sauce, perfect for dipping and adding even more flavour to this classic Sicilian street food.

It was my friend’s turn to try one of Luciano’s seafood dishes. For her main course, she picked the Linguine alle vongole. The restaurant sources Palourde clams, known for their sweetness and plumpness, and combines them with well-made linguini and a sauce of white wine, garlic and Calabrian chilli flakes. She loved the dish but wasn’t completely sold on the addition of the baby plum tomatoes.

I went autumnal again for my main course, choosing the Ravioli di zucca e ricotta. My generous plate of round ravioli stuffed with sweet muscat pumpkin and ricotta came coated in a smooth buttery sauce with crispy sage and the crunch of toasted hazelnuts – a winning combination when it’s cold outside.

My sweet tooth got the better of me and I went for the Profiterole Siciliani. Who could resist a dessert described as a giant profiterole with panna gelato? Not me. The whole thing sits on a bed of gooey pistachio paste and crushed nuts. A childish part of me craved a jug of hot dark chocolate sauce to bring it all together.

My dining companion went for a slightly tamer option – the Gelato. There’s a good choice of flavours and she went for two classics – the panna and pistachio, both very good – and a scoop of blood orange, which she found a little cloying. She loved the crunchy, nutty biscuit, far better than a dull old wafer.

At the corner where The Strand meets The Aldwych, Luciano is ideally placed for London’s Theatreland as well as Somerset House and Covent Garden. There’s something for everyone on the long and well-thought-out menu of largely classic Italian dishes.

Luciano by Gino D’Acampo
336-337 The Strand,
Aldwych,
London
WC2R 1HA

For more Italian dining in London, we recommend Spagnoletti in King’s Cross