Best Italian-style tapas in London

There's a new gastro-trend in town: small Italian plates (sometimes known as cicchetti, or spuntino) are springing up on menus all over London. The Italian version of tapas, they are perfect for picking at over a glass of wine, or making a proper meal of. We sent our reviewer Larushka Ivan-Zadeh to check out the latest small plates specialist, Polpo, and Stephanie Hirschmiller to round up the best of the rest.

Polpo
41 Beak Street, W1 (020 7734 4479)
Distressed plasterwork, an imported tin ceiling and ancient carbon filament light bulbs bring old-world charm to Polpo, set up in an 18th century building where Venetian painter Canaletto once lived. Only open a fortnight and already buzzing with popularity, there are two sittings for dinner (6pm and 9pm) and diners turning up for their piccolo — Italian for miniature — plates are close-packed. It could feel like sardine hell, but doesn't, because everyone swaps ordering tips — crucial when everything on this menu looks delicious. It's all small plates divided into meat, fish, breads, vegetables and salad, desserts, and cicchetti and crostini — the latter are the (very) small plates which range from £1-£2.10.

"Don't bother with the salt cod on grilled polenta, it's titchy," advised the girl next to us, "But you MUST get the pork belly" (£5.50). She was right. The velvety soft pork contrasted beautifully with the bitterness of the radicchio and crunchy hazelnuts. It was our fave, too.

Well, that and the mackerel tartare (£5.40), its
succulence balanced with refreshing cucumber. Oh, and the soft cuttlefish in its black ink (£6.20), the grilled garlic bread oozing olive oil (£2.40), and the — hang on, had we finished already? Time to order more of everything! And with plates ranging from £1 to £6.90, you can.

The wine list, sourced from some seriously in-the-know Italian vineyards, is available in quarter- and half-litre carafes as well as by the glass and bottle. After two carafes, two glasses and more food, including anchovy and chickpea crostini (£1.10) and a meltingly warm bowl of roasted autumn fruits with Amaretto biscuit
crumble, we felt like we'd ordered lots — and were slightly dreading the bill. Yet we found it ridiculously good value at £70.

As head chef Tom Oldroyd was previously at Bocca Di Lupo, it's no wonder this feels like its less costly, rustic cousin down the road. "So far we only get lovely people here," sighed our waitress happily. "Do come back again soon."

More Italian tapas...
Bocca di Lupo
12 Archer Street, W1
(020 7734 2223, boccadilupo.com)
The forerunner of London's current foodie trend offers petite portions of practically every main dish on the menu. Each dish is defined by its region — crescentini (fried milk bread) with finocchiona (fennel seed salami) and the aptly named squacquerone cheese, from Bologna, £5.50; grilled squid with gremolata (garlic with parsley and lemon juice) from Liguria, £7; and cured langoustines and scallops with rosemary oil from Venice, £9.50. Sit at the white Carrara marble bar and watch the chefs at work in the kitchen.

Cecconi's
5a Burlington Gardens,
Mayfair, W1 (020 7434 1500)
THE cicchetti menu was born a few years ago as a nod to founder Enzo Cecconi's Venetian roots, where taverns serving cicchetti (from the Italian verb to pick) sprang up to feed workers on the canal boats. Come early evening the bar buzzes with people snacking on aubergine parmigiana, £6; polenta sprinkled with porcini mushrooms sautéed in olive oil and garlic, £6; Umbrian sausages with peppers, £6; and grilled piadina (thin Italian flatbread) with prosciutto San Daniele and stracchino cheese, £7. Cecconi's serves draught prosecco, £5.75 — it has fewer bubbles so you can drink more without feeling bloated.

Valentina
75 Upper Richmond Road, SW15 (020 8877 9906, valentinafinefoods.com)
VALENTINA'S gorgeous glass-fronted ground floor houses a deli and ­spuntino bar (spuntino means little snack) serving a delicious array of small plates, such as salsicce agrodolce (Tuscan sausages in a sweet and sour sauce with red peppers and flat leaf parsley), gamberoni all' aglio (sautéed king prawns in olive oil and garlic) both £3.75; peperoncini ripieni (baby stuffed peppers filled with tuna and marinated in olive oil) and arancino Siciliano (rice balls filled with pesto, peas and mozzarella in a rich tomato sauce) both £3.50. Wash it all down with a cool Peroni, £3.10.

Zilli Fish
36-40 Brewer Street, W1
(020 7734 8649, zillialdo.com)
ZILLI FISH recently introduced its own tapas menu offering variations on main menu dishes and featuring a mix of traditional crostini misti ­(ciabatta toast with mozzarella, ­peppers, tomatoes and tapenade) and marinated anchovies, ­peperoncino e prezzemolo (salads of beetroot, lentil & goat's cheese) all £3.50. Spinach and ricotta ravioli, £4, and ravioli all'astice (lobster ravioli with shellfish bisque, £4.90) are more substantial.