Manteca - Soho, London

Translating from Italian as 'butter', Manteca is the smooth new opening from Chris Leach and David Carter, who carved out a reputation for illustrious Italian at their 10 Heddon Street residency. These types of pasta operations have become one of Lodnon's most popular concepts of late, but Carter brings an X factor the menu. Drawing from his experience running Smokestak, there's an open grill in the back flaming up prime cuts. Taken together, this reasonably priced, boisterously chic new Soho opening piqued our curiosity beyond end. 

Nestled on the southern side of Great Marlborough Street, the dining room at Manteca is a long, narrow, dimly-lit affair with loud music and an open-plan kitchen in its hindquarters. Floors are brush concrete, the walls are lined with grey slate and festooned with green ferns, with tables hemmed in by brown leather banquettes and minimalistic wooden chairs. On a Wednesday evening the restaurant was packed and fizzing over with an excited energy.

We booted up our meal with an excellent tranche of oily, crispy rosemary focaccia which proved efficacious in mopping up burrata with carrot, pomegranate and radicchio and the whipped cod roe that accompanied smashed and deep-fried pink fir potatoes. Pappardelle laced with ox cheek ragu was good, but rather outshone by mushroom ravioli with black sage and truffle and the infamous tonnarelli with brown crab cacio e pepe. We wrapped up the meal by splitting a dark chocolate sorbet with mascarpone and buckwheat. 

Manteca continues the trend - offering reasonably priced and recklessly tasty pasta in central London.