Meet Your Maker | Pastaio, Ganton Street, London

Noun. pastaio m (plural pastai, feminine pastaia) pasta maker. pasta seller. worker at a pasta factory.

Now you know what it means, let us try to explain just how good this new(ish) fresh pasta restaurant from Stevie Parle of Rotorino, Palatino and Craft is.

It was mid November and the Christmas season was starting to build up a head of steam – the Elton John Lewis TV ad had just aired (Looking forward to the Jim Morrisons one) and Christmas lights are being switched on all over the country. I only mention this as we’d spent the day shooting the entire festive menu for one of our clients, which of course we had to sample – for research purposes, of course. What kind of social media managers would we be if we didn’t test drive the restaurant’s new menu?

So ten dishes later we were beginning to get a little concerned that we’d be way too full to enjoy our meal at Pastaio and we’d been asked to order their sharing dish which was apparently easily enough for three – gulp!

We decided to walk from Marylebone High Street to Carnaby Street, two areas separated by a 25 minute stroll but couldn’t be any more different. Hoping that the exercise would help boost our appetite, we arrived at Ganton Street (a little power walk sweaty) and bang on time. We say bang on time, Pastaio don’t actually take reservations but use a virtual queue system – leave your details, pop off for a drink and they’ll text you as soon as your table is ready. There’s plenty of drinking establishments nearby, so you won’t have to suffer too much.

Colour pop goes the terrazzo! Picture: Pastaio

The restaurant had a real exciting buzz about it, especially as it had only just turned 7pm on a Wednesday evening. Decor is simple clean industrial – an open kitchen at one end and a colour popping geometric wall mural at the other. And sandwiched in between were rows of communal terrazzo topped tables and dark stools.

We were led to one of the few tables set for two under the mural, which I later discovered depicts rigatoni, ravioli and spaghetti and was painted by Rob Lowe (no, not that one) the graphic designer of Supermundane fame – take a peek at his shop here. Just as we sat down, the table next to ours order arrived – Fried mozzarella, nduja & honey sandwich (£5.50) and Buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, chilli & oregano (£7) – appetite restored!

Show us your mussels

The only problem being that Saff doesn’t eat/like cheese (I know, our wonderful waitress, Ola, couldn’t understand it either) so both those options were out-of-bounds. So we, (aka Saff) started with sharing the traditional Sicilian crisp bread with salt and Lorenzo #1 olive oil (£3) and their Clams & mussels cooked in butter & Grillo with sourdough (£9.50). Although I’m not a massive fan of seafood (never have been) this dish was worth ordering just for the butter and wine sauce soaked bread on which the clams and mussels sat. It was incredible, I just regret not asking for more of that Coombeshead Farm sourdough to mop up every last bit!

We were so wrapped up in the food menu we’d forgot to order the drinks. I was immediately drawn to the Mulled wine slushie (£5) which had only been on the cocktail list for three days. It was everything I hoped for – all the spice and fruitiness of a hot mulled wine but with the texture of a real Slush Puppie. Saff ordered a classic Negroni (£7), served pre-made in one of those frosted mini Campari style bottles – so cute! The wine list is great too, not to extensive and not overly expensive. We ordered a carafe of Nerello (£20), purely as it said it had notes of cherry.

No such thing as pot luck at Pastaio.

Now time for the main attraction – a whopping iron pot of Six-hour slow cooked beef shin with reginette pasta and gremolata (£30), simply served in a Le Creuset dish. One half, big chunks of beef shin (complete with a section of actual shin bone) and the other filled with fresh pasta. In fact all of the pasta is made on site by their pastai (see I told you my definition would come in handy), extruded through bronze using a blend of organic Italian semolina and ancient British grains.

Regardless of what metal it was extruded through this pasta was divine when stirred through the now shredded skin and bone marrow. Menu states that it’s adequate for two or three to share and it is spot on, two-thirds through and our pace was starting to slow and once we hit the 75% mark we begrudgingly had to give up – maybe the Christmas tasting had gotten the best of us. Saff is a mega pasta fan and the portions she can get through are pretty impressive, on a good day, I honestly believe she could have got through the lot on her own.

The icing (sugar) on the cake.

That said after a 15 minute break we were more than happy to share a dessert (plus we’re firm believers in the existence of the separate ‘pudding stomach’). We opted for a rich dark chocolate and almond Caprese cake or Torta Caprese (£5.50) – a typical Neapolitan dessert. Crispy on the surface but soft and slightly moist inside, very much like a light brownie. That was that, now we were full, not even any room for coffee or a cheeky Grappa (£6) or homemade Cello (£4).

Now we understand what all the fuss is about, a great central location, brilliant value, excellent service and pasta that easily rivals Padella (without the need to join a queue that snakes all around Borough Market).

Find out more here
19 Ganton Street, London W1F 9BN
Email: eat@pastaio.london

Opening hours: 12pm – 11pm 7 days a week

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Nearest station: Oxford Circus (5 mins walk) Piccadilly Circus (7 mins walk)

We ate as guests of Pastaio, this does not affect our review in any way. We always write with complete honesty.