Chalk Farm, Italian Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: This “friendly and cosy” independent Italian with a “good garden space” has established a comfortable niche for itself in Primrose Hill over the past dozen years. It’s run by Patrick Oberto and his partner Diana Rinaldo, who took over the site in 2011.

This Kentish Town fixture from Calabrian-born, Moroccan-heritage chef Mustapha Mouflih has achieved cult status over the past decade for its “mostly great” Italian cooking served in modest premises at very good prices – the bills held in check by “brilliant BYOB for corkage”. Ratings have dropped this year, though, with several reporters “disappointed after reading good reviews”.

“Front-of-house / owner Giuseppe Gullo is charm personified at this proper local Italian” just before the railway foot-bridge in Primrose Hill, “serving Sardinian and Sicilian cuisine” (and he works closely with a Sardinian-based wine exporter to source biodynamic wines from small producers throughout Italy). The menu is concise, with a focus on regional dishes from the two islands: “decent food” if perhaps on the pricey side.