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The denizens of Stockwell must have been thrilled when this place – an antipasti’n’pizza joint from the folks behind killer gastropub the Canton Arms next door– opened on perennially unlovely South Lambeth Road. But alas: SC is a run-of-the-mill neighbourhood Italian with a clattery café-bar backdrop.
There’s not much to actively recommend. Cacio e pepe arancini should have been an unctuous highlight but were actually all pepper, zero pecorino. Courgette fritti were damp, shedding batter with nary a prod. Better was a pile of Tamworth pork tonnato – thinly sliced pig slathered in tuna mayo is one of Piedmont’s most perversely ace exports, after all – but this was less ‘careful assemblage’ and more ‘vat-scooped’. Taut Vesuvius tomatoes, drenched in oil, were great. But that’s just good shopping.
The pizza itself wasn’t up to much either: a ’nduja number saw a paucity of both soft, fiery salami and fior di latte cheese, and the pickled red onions on top were more saccharine than sharp. A tomato-free pie topped with bottarga (salted, cured fish roe), sliced courgette and more fior di latte was positively arid. But hey, the service was extremely genial.
Given the natty parentage, this was all a bit of a surprise. But then, this kind of pared-down cuisine – especially pizza – is often the most pernickety to pull off. At Stockwell Continental, they haven’t quite.