Homely isn’t quite the word that comes to mind when you pull back the heavy velvet curtain separating Casa Felicia from the dozy Queen’s Park street outside. Chic, for sure. Elegant, certainly. A parade of two-cover tables are packed close together in the main whitewashed dining room, and over in a far corner, there’s a booth for larger groups which is painted entirely in an intense sultry red. But the deeper into the evening we go, the more we’re taken in by this place’s unexpected down-to-earth charm.
Fettuccine porcini and paccheri with mussels and squid are simple but impeccable
Casa Felicia is helmed by chef Francesco Sarvonio, formerly of Manteca and currently of Elephant. The menu switches up daily, but always promises southern Italian ‘soul food’. A pleasing heap of puntarelle salad embellished with pear and hazelnuts, and a faultless seabass crudo speckled with crispy red pepper starts us off. We’re then presented with the most intriguing take on parmigiana I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t come in the traditional form of layered aubergine coins, but as the whole vegetable roasted, skinned and fried in a tempura batter, then cocooned in cheese fondue with a pool of marinara on the side. It’s fantastic – the batter lightly encases the vegetable like a chiffon blanket and the aubergine manages to be both firm and completely melt-in-the-mouth.
Don’t get carried away with the antipasti, as the bowls of pasta (handmade with just semolina and water, no egg) are truly generous. Crucially, the pasta has a perfect al dente bite, and they’ve nailed the sauce to carb ratio. The fettuccine porcini and the paccheri with mussels and squid are both simple but impeccable – the former deep, dark and creamy, the latter sweet, tangy and moreish. Of course, pasta is by no means an obligation – a rotating specials menu offers grandiose plates of meat or fish, like an £85 bistecca alla fiorentina or a £95 whole turbot to share.
We fight the natural urge to order tiramisu and instead let our server decide our dolce for us (‘I’m not going to give you any cutlery,’ she warns). We’re rewarded with a perfect pillow of a potato doughnut. Lavender sugar coats the bun and a pile of Verdello lemon zest perches on top like a pinch of candyfloss. This is the point in the meal where we have to do away with any air of sophistication – there’s no choice but to get messy. The accompanying mascarpone and dulce de leche dip is dense and you really need to dig in with your torn piece of doughnut to get a proper, well-rounded mouthful.
If Casa Felicia needed to charm us any more, the post-dessert roasted chestnuts certainly does the job. Chef Francesco delivers us the steaming globules himself and tells us that dinner at his grandma’s house wouldn’t be complete without them.
Nearly every chair in the venue is occupied and it vibrates with conversation all evening, so we had readied ourselves to be politely rushed off the table once our plates had been cleared. But the smokey chestnuts, which require some time and effort to crack into, are an invitation to linger a while longer.
The vibe A wholesome tribute to Neopolitan cooking.
The food Traditional southern Italian fare with a few playful twists thrown in.
The drink A thoughtfully curated roster of reds, whites, sparkling and oranges (though only one of each served by the glass).
Time Out tip Pair your pudding with an icy glass of Amaro Montenegro, an iconic Italian digestif which has kept its recipe a secret for the last 140 years.