Last Updated on May 18, 2025
Phil Howard’s NOTTO – an elegant diffusion restaurant for a Michelin-starred chef.
At this time of year, I really crave the kind of food you’ll find on the menu at NOTTO, Piccadilly. Fresh pasta with the option of classic or innovative sauces, delicious antipasti and a wine list that will make you feel you are spoilt for choice. It’s a concept that’s close to perfection, especially when it comes from one of Britain’s best chefs, Phil Howard. We first became fans way back in the days of The Square (which had two Michelin stars) and we have a soft spot for Kitchen W8 his Michelin-starred menu in Kensington. Phil’s other Michelin-star restaurant in London is Elystan Street and that’s very much on our wish list. But, in the meanwhile, a visit to the recently opened NOTTO hit just the right spot for a cold February evening.
While we love destination dining at places like Padella in Borough Market, finding something just as good in central London, within a stone’s throw of the Royal Academy and close enough to the West End for theatre nights is really special. The venue itself, right by St James’s Piccadilly, is light and bright with elegant, contemporary styling, comfortable blowback chairs, plaster walls and organic-shaped wicker lampshades with ultra-trendy exposed ducting and a pretty display of corn along the walls. Housed-up jazz standards on the sound system create a lively atmosphere that all ages can relate to.
And there are cocktails! I try my best to avoid drinking spirits too often so opted for a blood orange bellini, which had a pleasant level of acidity with strong orangy citrus notes coming through. It’s just blood orange juice and prosecco so perfect if you are a bit of a lightweight like me.
Meanwhile, my companion ordered the grapefruit negroni, a mix of gin, sweet vermouth infused with grapefruit peel and Campari
Our snacks were similarly polarised – for me a little bowl of mixed Italian olives while my companion enjoyed the wild mushroom arancini. Coated with a gluten-free panko breadcrumb, the sticky rice mixture was laced with thick and luscious melting cheese and plated on mushroom puree.
Focaccia came in healthy chunks, served on a wooden board. Laced with rosemary, rock salt, sundried tomatoes and herb and garlic-infused oil, it was hard not to fill up completely before we’d really started. My silky mortadella with lightly pickled vegetables was an excellent and generously portioned dish too.
A salad of puntarella, fennel, red onion, chilli, and garlic, served with an anchovy and orange dressing was a hit with my companion who loved the sweetness and saltiness of the orange and anchovy mix and the crunchy texture.
The restaurant recommends ordering three pasta dishes between two people. With one of us following a pescatarian diet, we opted for a classic rigatoni cacio e pepe as the first of our dishes with perfectly cooked al-dente pasta coated in a rich peppery sauce. I’ll be practising my own version of this at home. Mine never comes out quite so well, and I think that may just be an overcautious hand with the pepper grinder, which was not the case here. I’ll also try to remember to add back in some of the pasta water as this dish gets its deliciously creamy sauce from the mix of cheese and pasta water you should add in the final stages.
My personal favourite of the trio was a herbed ricotta ravioli, with walnut sauce, fried herbs, lemon zest, and olive oil. Plump pillows of pasta stuffed with ricotta and fresh herbs were served al dente with a fragrant olive oil sauce laced with the nutty walnut mixture.
Perhaps the most notable dish was the spaghettini with white crab, spring onions, spring onions, cayenne, lemon zest and butter. A delicate dish, with the spring onions complementing the sweetness of the crab and with plenty of buttery spaghettini, this was posh pasta done well.
We drank our way through a beautifully balanced and minerally 2021 Old Vines Chenin Blanc, Kloof Street, Swartland, South Africa. With notes of stone fruits it might have gone well with the mascarpone pannacotta with blood orange creamy citrus blood orange jelly too, had we managed not to drink quite so quickly. Instead, we washed everything down with an espresso and staggered happily home.
An old Costa Coffee site may not be the ideal kitchen, but Louis Korovilas, the executive chef who is overseeing the entire food operation has a heritage as auspicious as Phil Howard himself, having been responsible for launching Bancone after stints working at Locanda Locatelli and Pied a Terre. And, the general manager, Nicholas Georgoulakis, comes from Elystan Street and Sloane Street Deli. It’s a winning team and in our view a fabulous proposition. Who can complain about a Michelin-star-led venue in central London where most of the mains are between £10 and £15?
Notto, which appears to have originally been called ‘Otto’ will undoubtedly soon become one of those ‘wait list’ destination restaurants – get in there while you can.
Notto
198 Piccadilly
London W1J 9EZ
020 3034 2190
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