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Even if you’ve never been to Il Portico on Kensington High Street, someone you know probably has. This legendary Italian restaurant opened in 1967 and is currently run by the fourth generation of the family who started it. Its chef has been there 32 years. It’s a portal (no pun intended) to a whole different age of dining in London, emerging out of postwar Italian immigration to the capital, followed by a growing fascination with the country’s culture and cuisine during the ’50s and ’60s. In 2021, it still has the romantic air of a restaurant from an era when dining out was a real experience, something to savour.
These days, Il Portico might feature more organic produce (much of it from the family’s farm in Kent), but its faithfulness to the food and spirit of Italy’s Emilia Romagna region remains undimmed. So it’s properly exciting to hear that it’s about to get a little sibling.
Pino, located just a few doors down from Il Portico bills itself as an ‘enoteca and osteria’, which basically means ‘wine bar and restaurant’. It promises a more casual approach than the original, with cocktails, wood-fired organic pizzas and sharing plates, plus a dedicated aperitivo bar, which sounds like the kind of thing we can definitely face braving Kensington for (only joking, W8!). Intriguingly, Pino will also be the first producer of traditional organic Modena balsamic in the UK. The vinegar will be barrel-aged in an uplit centrepiece of the restaurant for up to 25 years, which is the kind of optimistic post-Covid timescale we can applaud. It opens formally on July 2. Go, Pino!
Pino, 267 Kensington High St, W8 6NA. Il Portico, 277 Kensington High St, W8 6NA.
Find more great pizzas in London.
Max’s Sandwich Shop x Patty & Bun are doing a ham, egg and chip burger.