Last Updated on October 26, 2025
Fun Italian-style dining from Gloria
After reviewing Jacuzzi for London Unattached last year, I was keen to visit another of Big Mamma’s Italian restaurants. I thoroughly approve of the group’s ethos that dining out should be OTT, theatrical and fun. Gloria is Big Mamma’s Shoreditch outpost, its website promising “a 70’s Capri-style & all-day long Trattoria in the middle of Shoreditch run by a crazy bunch”. I went along with a friend who lives in Modena, one of Italy’s foodiest hotspots and was interested to find out what she made of Gloria’s take on Italian food.
It’s easy to spot Gloria on Great Eastern Street, which is covered in plant life. Inside the restaurant, it’s big, boisterous, and fun. Gloria has many areas, each with a different feel – from the moody, snug bar to a dark, interesting dining room to the sunnier, brighter room where we spent the evening.
Gloria put us in the mood for summery cocktails. It takes a lot to steer me away from instantly ordering an Aperol Spritz in an Italian restaurant but I love apricots so I had to try the Albicocca Spritz. This drink combines apricot brandy, elderflower cordial, lemon juice, soda and Prosecco.
My companion opted for the Match Point Rossini, an ode of Wimbledon with its mix of fresh strawberry purée, St-Germain elderflower liqueur, Champagne and orange foam. She liked it so much she had two.
Having experienced the huge Big Mamma portions at Jacuzzi, I felt duty-bound to rein in my friend and insisted we share a starter. Thank god we did. We picked the Burrata e Friggitelli and found ourselves faced with half a pound of oozing creamy cheese sitting on rich sun-dried tomatoes and drenched in pesto oil. The homemade warm focaccia with oregano proved vital for mopping it all up. So vital, in fact, that my friend said yes immediately when our waitress offered us more bread, despite having ordered pasta and potatoes for her main. A festival of carb-eating ensued.
The accompanying pan-fried friggitelli were a bit like an Italian take on Padron peppers. These finger-length sweet chilli peppers are served cold here, and I think I’d have preferred them cooked for longer and served warm.
For her main dish, my companion had the Ravioli allo strachitunt, the well-made pasta filled with ricotta and Parmigiano Reggiano, served with a creamy Strachitunt cheese sauce and basil oil. I had to look up Strachitunt and discovered that it’s a raw-milk blue-veined cheese from Bergamo. Despite my earlier warnings about portion sizes, she ordered the Super Smash pots as a side dish. Crunchy on the outside, and soft inside, the potatoes defeated my companion (an anathema apparently) once she realised that if she persisted, she would not have room for pudding.
Meanwhile, I was tackling my own giant, satisfying plate of pasta (but no potatoes): the Paccheri alla Norma. The thick-cut pasta was smothered in a San Marzano tomato and aubergine sauce and served on a bed of zesty ricotta al limone.
The dessert menu describes their version of lemon meringue pie as “THE must”. The Incomparable Lemon Pie is undoubtedly the dish Gloria is most famous for and plays a starring role on many an Instagram feed. The reason for this is the towering dome of fluffy Italian meringue. My companion managed to polish off all of the very decent lemon tart, but, unsurprisingly, just some of the top.
I was interested in finding out what an Italian take on the classic British sticky toffee pudding would be like. I enjoyed the marsala and toffee sauce and the strong taste of coffee, but was less impressed by the slightly dusty, dry sponge. I’ll stick to the Italian classics next time I go to Gloria.
The hordes don’t go to Gloria for a refined dining experience. They go for the big atmosphere, a sense of playfulness and great big plates of hearty Italian food. We left happy, having eaten an astounding amount of cheese and the carbs to match – possibly several weeks’ worth. And our friendly and helpful waitress patiently let us practise our imperfect Italian on her.
54–56 Great Eastern St,
Shoreditch
London
EC2A 3QR
Other Big Mamma restaurants we’ve visited and loved include Carlotta in chi-chi Marylebone and Jacuzzi on High St Kensington, one of our Restaurant of the Month picks last year!
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