Scarpetta

In a part of the city already packed with lunch plaves, Scarpetta stands out as one of the best! They make their own fresh pasta, and you can pair them with one of their many sauces. They also cook it in a pan right in front of you, making it the most fresh pasta possible!
Inevitably this means queues, but to be honest when it’s this good, it’s worth the wait! Would recommend the spicy nduja, and your 5 quid for a «small» (which is actually quite filling) also includes a pot of cheese/​chilli oil and a slice of bread!
A lovely Italian that I’ll be visiting very frequently in the future!

Stopped here for lunch as I escaped the hassle and bustle of work… The building looks very inviting and the menu interesting. It is slightly confusing to place your order as the area where you order and pay is very small. Once ordered you have to also somehow pay and wait for your food… I don’t think this was thought through well. When I visited we were about ten people trying to order and pay which was chaotic…
I ordered the mushroom pasta which I found dry. I am also not convinced that the pasta was properly cooked — I am sure some will argue it is suppose to be like this…
Overall I am disappointed as they have a lovely outside seating area which I would have like to visit ofter. Unless the food improve I will not…

The lunchtime options in the City can get a little boring so I was really pleased that Scarpetta opened its doors not far from my office in June. The location is new so benefits from being light and airy with plenty of inside and outside seating.
They do a good range of salads and sandwiches but it is the pasta where they really excel. It is all freshly made on the site with a machine churning out the next batch in the corner while another batch has been cooked and served up.
They do two portion sizes, small or large but I always find that small is enough for me as they give you a piece of bread too. I can’t remember the Italian names of the individual sauces but I have tried the veal, tomato and pancetta, and bolognaise dishes. My favourite is the bolognaise but it is not always on sale.
A small pasta dish costs around £4.50 — £5 making it more expensive than Coco Di Mama around the corner on Eastcheap but the quality of the food is much better so I would always come here instead.