10 Heddon Street restaurant

'Sharing good food with great friends’ is an ethos we can heartily get behind. Add to the mix a relaxed, informal vibe, Italian food with a British slant, and two chefs who have served their time at some of our favourite London restaurants, and it makes new restaurant 10 Heddon Street an appetising prospect.

This swanky Mayfair address, formally the site of Magpie, is being taken over for a restaurant residency by David Carter of Smokestak and Chris Leach of Petersham Nurseries and Kitty Fisher’s. Menu ennui will be deftly averted with a daily changing selection, which focuses on hand-made pastas and charcuterie. There will also be an in-house butchery, which puts all of the animal to good use. Take, for example, the pigs from Fred Price at Gothelney Farm. ‘We’ll be breaking down whole animals and using shoulder for coppa and speck; belly for pancetta and from the loin we will get both chops and Lardo’, says Leach.

Start a leisurely meal with focaccia and a selection of house-made salumi, including mortadella, coppa di testa and fennel salami. To follow, dip into dishes that might include pea and summer vegetable ragu with scamorza and toasted spel; and grilled peach salad with smoked almond and ricotta salata. Make sure to peruse the section dedicated purely to pasta. We’ve got our eyes on the hand rolled egg rigatoni with pumpkin seed pesto & anchovy, as well as the brown crab tonnarelli cacio e pepe. After this pasta perfection, make sure to leave room for cannolo filled with with whipped sheep’s milk ricotta, candied orange peel and salted caramelised hazelnuts.

With each day bringing new delights, it sounds like we’ll be making more than just the one visit to this hot new residency. Will 10 Heddon Street get full marks from us? You’ll have to see…

Chris Leach and David Carter at 10 Heddon Street is due to open on Thursday 18th July.