Giulia

Giulia opened in late 2022, on the busy Askew Road, west of Shepherds Bush and north of Ravenscourt Park. It is on the site that used to be Adams Café. The restaurant is run by Giulia Quaglia and her partner Endris Kerbizi, who is the head chef, and works pretty much by himself in the kitchen other than a kitchen porter. He previously worked at The Bulgari Hotel, Galvin La Chapelle and Massimo. The pasta and bread here are all made from scratch in the kitchen. 

The short, almost entirely Italian, wine list had 20 labels and ranged in price from £30 to £290, with a median price of £44 and an average markup to retail price of a very fair 2.6 times. Sample references were Alpha Zeta Chardonnay 2022 at £30 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £11, Villa Bucci Verdicchio Classico Superiore 2021 at £50 compared to its retail price of £25, and Devaux Grande Réserve NV champagne at £78 for a wine that will set you back £38 in the high street. For those with the means there was Barolo Monteforte d’Alba Clerico 2018 at £82 compared to its retail price of £46, and Gaja Barbaresco 2019 at £290 for a wine whose current market value is £242.

The menu was a la carte. We started with some arancini snacks (£6). These had a crisp exterior and the rice inside was flavoured with pepper and cheese. These were good arancini if just a touch dry, so maybe some sort of dip on the side might have been a useful complement (13/20). Focaccia and grissini were made from scratch here. The grissini was fine though arguably needed a little more salt, but the focaccia had light texture and was very enjoyable indeed.

Ravioli (£17) of cacio e pepe with butter and sage also had little Parmesan crisps. The pasta, made from scratch, had quite good texture if a touch al dente to some tastes, but you could taste the cheese, and the pepper was well judged. The little Parmesan crisps were a nice touch (13/20). Potato gnocchi (£19) came with roasted peppers, strips of courgettes and burrata. The vegetables were fine but the gnocchi were unfortunately rather too dense (12/20).

Seared tuna (£29) came with courgettes, avocado and Mediterranean dressing. The tuna was seared quite lightly and the courgettes were pleasant, though I am not sure about combining cold avocado with warm tuna as a concept (13/20).  Pork (£28) came in two forms. Shoulder of pork was braised while there was also loin of suckling pig, with baby vegetables and a tomato marmalade. The latter was a good idea, the tangy tomato being a nice foil for the meat, but pork is a meat that easily dries out when cooked and sadly this had happened here, the loin especially being very dry indeed (12/20). Spinach on the side (£5.50) was properly cooked and had good flavour.

Lemon tart (£8.50) came with fior di latte ice cream. The latter is a fresh cow milk cousin of Mozzarella (which is usually made with buffalo milk). The pastry of the tart was fine and there was just about enough acidity from the lemon curd, but the ice cream was lacking in flavour. Fior di latte is mild for sure, but this was really light on flavour (13/20). 

The coffee was from a company called Sole Caffè, and this was harmless enough. Service was led by Giulia, who was very welcoming, and dishes arrived at a leisurely but steady pace. The bill came to £65 per person, which is probably fairly representative of a typical cost per person if you order carefully. Giulia is a pleasant neighbourhood restaurant and its bread and pasta in particular were very good quality.