Archway

Not located in actual Archway, but rather built under a railway arch in Battersea, this Italian-ish restaurant proved a pretty much instant success, bagging itself an entry in the Michelin Guide only months after opening.

And it’s most definitely a hit: wandering down a desolate stretch of viaduct to try and find it, there’s a slight sense of ‘is this a trap?’ when you finally arrive at the door, which is marked only by a printed piece of paper. Inside, though, it’s almost surreal how bustling it is: when we arrived at 7.30pm it was heaving.

Archway aspires to be a great neighbourhood restaurant and that’s exactly what it is

Headed up by Lorenzo Nigro, the restaurant is essentially the physical front for Spook, a long established Battersea catering company. Spook and Archway clearly share a maddeningly irritating copywriter, with the restaurant’s blithely woolly statement being ‘our mission is to put people and the planet at the forefront of hospitality creating personal and meaningful experiences around food and drink that reflect this’. 

But essentially what you’re looking at is a meat-orientated, Italian-inflected menu that changes monthly. It’s concise, but flexible, with four starters, four mains, and four pasta dishes that can be taken as either starter or main.

Despite the grungy, semi-concealed exterior the room is light, airy and unpretentious, with its most hipsterish adornment a kitchen so open that diners in the kitchenside seats could practically reach into the ovens.

Starting as it meant to go on, the starters were both delicious and hefty: a punchy burrata dominated by a fist-size blob of sublimely creamy mozzarella, while the flatbread in my flatbread with bone marrow butter was extraordinary, an astonishingly subtle, silky texture that has probably ruined all other flatbreads for me. 

Venetian liver with mashed potato was outstandingly hearty and done nicely, though lacking in actual culinary wow. Char-grilled pork rump with braised fennel and apple compote was not in any way flashy, but a perfect mix of sweet sauce, tart plant and juicy flesh. The side of mash I threw on felt a tad extraneous; certainly there was no need to worry about it not being filling enough.

Service was friendly and polished: the heart sometimes sinks when the server declares they’ll ‘talk through the menu’, but it was brisk and helpful, with no upselling or gratuitous companyspeak. Our server was also great with the well-priced wine list – I had a £7 glass of crisp, buzzy Chin Chin Vinho Verde to start followed by a robust £8 Primitivo with my main – you’d pay more for worse in most pubs.

Despite the meat-heavy menu, there’s no macho dude food aesthetic going on here, which is why we were somewhat taken aback to find ourselves flagging after the mains. These are big portions, verging on a comfort eating vibe. My heart leapt and sank in equal measures when confronted with my dessert of bomboloni with salted caramel and rosemary cream: essentially three full sized donuts, albeit light, delicious ones. A tiramisu was similarly spot-on flavour wise, but the size of an actual football pitch.

Not yet a year old, Archway is a hit locally. Can it become a Londonwide destination? I’m not sure – it’s executed well, but there’s a simplicity to the cooking that means it ultimately lacks a degree of character. It’s far from bland, but it’s not necessarily aiming for wow factor. There may well be a restaurant closer to where you live or work doing This Sort of Thing, but Archway aspires to be a great neighbourhood restaurant and that’s exactly what it is.

The vibe Enigmatic on the outside, no-nonsense welcoming on the inside.

The food River Cafe-ish modern Italian with disarmingly hefty portions.

The drink A fine and wide array of reasonably priced wines (pretty light on cocktails etc).

Time Out tip Unless you know Battersea intimately then leave some 'getting lost time' aside when finding it.