London’s famed Italian delicatessen and pasta restaurant Lina Stores has arrived in Omotesando, Tokyo’s popular shopping and café hub. The shop’s exterior looks just like it does in London with its pastel green and white colour scheme. It has plenty of tables, as well as counter seats where you can watch the chefs cook your dish right in front of you.
Here, you can eat pasta made with flour imported from Italy and fresh eggs, handmade and kneaded into all kinds of shapes. We recommend ordering the mafaldine verdi con salsa di funghi (¥1,600), ribbon-shaped mafaldine spinach pasta with a three mushroom sauce, or the ravioli con burrata (¥1,850), burrata cheese ravioli with tomato sauce.
If you want to try London’s all-time popular dish, the tagliolini al tartufo e parmigiano (¥2,000) will fill you up with its pasta marinated in buttery sauce, generously topped with truffle shavings. Gluten-free and vegan pasta options are also available upon request.
The side dishes are just as delicious – there’s a plethora of prosciutto and cheeses, but you won’t want to miss out on the Polpette di melanzane (¥850), which are eggplant croquettes with San Marzano tomato, porchetta and roast pork belly. Finish your meal with a creamy ricotta stuffed cannoli (¥700), or the popular panna cotta (¥800) prepared with a hint of Italian vin santo dessert wine.
At the next-door deli, you can take home all kinds of Italian ingredients including prosciutto, cheese, fresh pasta, desserts and coffee to re-create that Italian kitchen feel at home.