Vasco and Piero’s Italian Restaurant: “We Are Honoured To Be Featured in A Guide to Chefs’ Favourite Restaurants”
Restaurants (Third Edition) Eat around the world with 650 of the world’s best chefs. Wherever you are, you’ll never miss the best local diner for breakfast, the best restaurant for a business dinner, or the best place for a late night snack – and everything in between. https://uk.phaidon.com/store/food-cook/where-chefs-eat-9780714875651/
… makes the best bowl of pasta in London. A bold statement, but try the classic spaghetti al pomodoro, which will surely have you nodding in agreement.
This is Italian food and Italian food as previous generations would have known it. Those seeking cutting edge cooking to challenge pre-conceptions, should look elsewhere. There are no surprises, so diners will not be able to discuss amazing culinary finds, new techniques or hitherto unknown foodstuffs.
Instead, the emphasis is on traditional food – pasta, fish, meat and vegetables. It screams simplicity – you get what you order.
…
https://www.secretfoodtours.com/recommendations/blog/pavilion-of-italian-tradition
From Sri Lankan street food, Szechuan hot pots and udon noodles to Sunday roasts, NYC-Italian and Hyderabadi biryani — Soho has it all
Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion Restaurant has been selected by OpenTable diners’ as one of the best! Diners’ Choice Award lists are designed to celebrate top-rated restaurants, and we are incredibly proud. That’s all down to your phenomenal reviews. We can’t thank you all enough for your support, as well as the warmth and smiles you bring to our restaurant.
Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion Restaurant has been selected by OpenTable diners’ as one of the best! Diners’ Choice Award lists are designed to celebrate top-rated restaurants, and we are incredibly proud. That’s all down to your phenomenal reviews. We can’t thank you all enough for your support, as well as the warmth and smiles you bring to our restaurant.
It’s not new – in fact, it’s pushing 50 – but as the Guardian reports, this Umbrian restaurant still shines. Its regional focus is “a position they adopted long before lesser osterie clocked that concentrating on a specific region was a good wheeze. It wasn’t whisked up in a boardroom, it just is”.
That means vast bowls of fresh pasta, made in-house every day; meat and fish that are never frozen; and truffles in the season. “Much of the produce here is sourced direct from small Umbrian farms,” Time Out says, and the menu changes twice daily.
After all, it adds, if Vasco & Piero have been doing this for so long, they must be doing something right.
http://www.theweek.co.uk/76651/the-seven-best-regional-italian-restaurants-in-london
There’s a chill wind whistling around the capital. The award-winning gastropub has had to close its doors. The branché Provençal place in Exmouth Market has disappeared, in its place one of the new breed of coffee chains. A Michelin star couldn’t save the Soho stalwart. That indie meat joint I always meant to get to: gone. Even restaurant titans are suffering: Jamie Oliver blaming Brexit for the closure of six of his outlets. (Food lovers, however, are not so sure that it’s just Brexit that’s to blame.)
London, always rapacious, looks set to be even less hospitable to restaurants in 2017. Yes, Brexit will have an impact, not only on staffing but on ingredient costs. Big-paying companies, the lifeblood of the biz, are making plans to shuffle off. A recent study suggested that as many as four in 10 restaurants will have to shutter if rents and rates continue to increase at their current unholy speed – a predicted further 20% come April. With margins calculated at a miserly 10%, only the heroic or the foolhardy are launching into this most unstable of industries.
So I fear for the new brigade once the neophiliacs have moved on, for the taco slingers, the sourdough pizzaioli, the earnest chaps crafting haute cuisine out of cabbage. Pondering restaurant longevity, what causes it, what makes a place outlive its neighbours, I head for a Soho old-timer, the pushing-50 Vasco & Piero’s. Why is it still rammed, service after service? Eating the full four-course, lie-down-for-an-hour-afterwards blowout, I try to parse its success. Here’s what I come to.
Identity: not just generic Italian, but Umbrian, a position they adopted long before lesser osterie clocked that concentrating on a specific region was a good wheeze. It wasn’t whisked up in a boardroom, it just is.
Menu: pah to the now mandatory “regularly changing”, this one changes twice daily. It riffs delicately on treasured cliches, so insalata tricolore becomes Puglian burrata, marshmallow-light, weeping sweet cream, with a fan of avocado and a few balsamic-kissed cherry tomatoes. Umbrian touches come via hearty use of chickpeas and pulses: fine, rosy-centred seared tuna on a bed of lentils, bathed randomly and successfully with soy and ginger. And, honestly, how could you resist a flawless Toblerone semifreddo?
Produce: “Just two or three ingredients for each dish,” they say. (I say, “Hmm.”) Meat and fish is never frozen. Pasta is made in-house daily: tagliatelle, yolk-yellow and dressed with a judicious amount of rich, vinous, slow-cooked beef and pork ragú; daringly al dente orecchiette, the chewy little ears laden with a forest’s-worth of wild mushrooms and just a lick of cream to pull the whole dish together.
Generosity, too: we query if our starter portions of pasta have been mistakenly served in main-course sizes. They haven’t. Umbrian truffles feature in season: I love the posh-prole play of floury borlotti beans under a fat, rough Tuscan sausage stuffed with pecorino, wrapped in pancetta and roasted before being anointed with black truffle butter.
Service: a neatly judged array of smooth operators dedicated to your pleasure and mild flirtation, the odd daft boy for levity and an elderly chap who I think is the titular Vasco Matteucci, metaphorically cuffing them all across the ears.
Style: formerly as fusty and blousy as elderly bloomers, it now presents a restrained bella figura of understated, art-lined chic. They pride themselves on discretion, which means, for me, that I can’t figure out how to get into the place. Also, despite being pretty much populated by grandees from film, fashion and politics who hardly notice the hefty bills, it’s quite admirably uninterested in the Soho passeggiata of see and be seen.
Is Vasco & Piero perfect? No: tables are squashed so close together, we can read the United Artists compliments slip on our neighbours’. More expansive tables are colonised by regulars. Why not – surely them’s the breaks? “We are not here to wow,” says the website, and they don’t; they just make happy. “The secret to its success,” says V&P fan Michael Palin, “is its absolute consistency.” So, no fireworks, no dishes created for social media, no mouthy chefs poncing about in leather and tattoos. Oh, and they probably own the building, too. Forza e coraggio, everyone else. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.#
The Guardian – Marina O’Loughlin
This Week I’m… The ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ actor reveals what his week has in store.
Eating at Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion Restaurant on Poland Street, which the Pythons took me to years ago. It’s a busy, family-run Italian which is perfect for our six year-old, who brings anywhere posh into disrepute. vascosfood.com
Watching Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove on DVD. It’s one of the greatest anti-war films ever made and shows Peter Sellers at his best.
Reading The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex by Mark Kermode. I’ve always been mad about film and he’s an amazing critic. I love the weekly film review podcast he does with Simon Mayo. bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/kermode
Drinking in the Paramount bar at the top of Centrepoint. The views are extraordinary. paramount.uk.net
Listening to Kisses on the Bottom by Paul McCartney. As a Beatles fanatic, it’s always exciting when he releases a new album. He gave me a cuddle once; it was the most extraordinary day of my life!
Catching up with Richard E Grant, who’s a good friend of mine, over dinner at The Wolseley. thewolseley.com
Working out at Complete Coaching in Wanstead. I really don’t exercise enough but when I have a job and need to build up stamina, that’s the place I run to in a panic. The co-founder Paul is a brilliant trainer.
Visiting London Zoo with my son. It stops me getting jaded. He once said, “Wouldn’t it be great if the penguins escaped and started dancing with people?” And I thought, “Actually, yeah, it would!”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9160174/Sanjeev-Bhaskar-This-Week-Im….html
Terry Gilliam, the surreal genius responsible for Monty Python’s iconic animation, is a mass of brilliant, iconoclastic contradictions. A film director releasing a cutting edge film, The Zero Theorem, which concerns itself with how technology affects our lives, the 73-year-old Minnesota-born innovator reveals how, actually, he hates how technology affects our lives. And that’s quite a revelation…
…as is the notion that a man who has been the creative force behind some of the most innovative films of recent years – 12 Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – doesn’t like going to the cinema too much. This all needs exploring…
An American by birth, Terry Gilliam could not be more immersed in London life if he tried. Born in Minneapolis, he has lived in the capital for over 40 years and denounced his American citizenship for good in 2006.
It has been some journey from the first time he was in London – he sharply admits he was here “to avoid getting a proper job”. His first memory of the capital was based around the fogginess of a hitchhiking trip around Europe, when he bumped into an old American acquaintance in a café on Wardour Street. “My first thought was ‘I come all the way to London and I see somebody I know? I wanted to get away from this guy’.”
Gillian was 24 then, yet at 73 now he could hardly be busier. We will get onto the forthcoming Monty Pythonreunion – the comedic equivalent of The Beatles reuniting – in due course, but examining how London has changed over the past four decades is a moot point, given that the director believes the ‘world’s favourite city’ has possibly not improved.
“It may be me looking back with rose tinted glasses and with youthful nostalgia, but I think it is actually worse than it was. I feel there isn’t quite the community spirit that there used to be when I first moved here. Remember, I got here in the 1960s, so it was a big party – peace and love and all that. Then came austerity and strikes and now it has a strange atmosphere; I’m not sure what it is anymore, everything seems fractured. I think a sense of society has been lost, and I think that is a bad thing.”
Would he extend such criticism to an arts and culture perspective?
“Well, no, I actually wouldn’t. I think in that respect we have so much right here – there is such creativity, such expression. I don’t really know where else you would need to go in the world for such a broad reflection of the artistic talents of the world, and it really is the world here. Why leave?!”
In truth, Gilliam isn’t quite as cantankerous as his sweeping criticisms may imply. Indeed, his admiration for the capital clearly tempers frustrations in other areas. He says he adores the house in Highgate where he lives with his wife Maggie. “We’ve been there for three decades. It’s an old place, built in the 17th century and no, I could not even think about living anywhere else. I feel like I am the latest in a long tradition of custodians looking after the place.
“And the locality is just so wonderful. I’m a reader and a walker – not necessarily at the same time – but going off without a plan is so good for the soul. I may find myself in local pub The Flask, or at Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion, which is a great Italian place. And then there are the museums and art galleries. You can get inspiration from anywhere; you’ve just got to open yourself up to it all.”
Just don’t ask him what his favourite cinema is. “I don’t really go to the cinema.” Really? That is quite surprising for such a successful film director. “It might be, but I don’t like it. I prefer to watch stuff on DVD. Who likes going to the cinema in the summer when it is hot? Nobody in London!”
Reluctant or not, Gilliam’s new film The Zero Theorem hit the cinemas this month (presumably he expects people to make it along) and couldn’t be more perfectly timed. With the 25th anniversary of the internet this month, Gilliam’s depiction of corporate existential angst will resonate with many.
http://londoncalling.com/show/terry-gilliam-interview-the-zero-theorem
by Giovanna Rossi and Marco Polchi
Vasco Matteucci left the Upper Tiber Valley in search of his fortune when he was just a lad. He arrived in London when the Beatles and Rolling Stones were just beginning; when the English capital was ‘swinging’: it was beautiful and creative and difficult. But, he conquered it with style and professionalism. For the last 40 years his restaurant – Vasco and Piero’s Pavillion’, (now managed by his son Paul), is a landmark on London’s food and wine scene; a great example of ‘Made in Italy’. The Mag met up with Vasco and allowed ourselves to get carried away with his story.
You left San Giustino when you were a boy, tell us about it…
Ok – though I didn’t actually get to London straight away; my journey was more roundabout than that. Initially I travelled around Italy for a bit; I went to Viareggio and then on to Rome, where I finished catering and hospitality school. From there I moved to Germany where I worked in a factory, and then spent a Summer working in a restaurant. After 6 months, I moved on to Switzerland, and then finally arrived in London. It was the start of the Sixties.
Does that mean that you never moved?
Not at all! I worked for a year outside of London, in Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare’s town, and also Rotterdam in Holland and, later on, in New York. By this time, I was so used to never stopping and this desire to be constantly on the move has never left me. In fact, even now, my wife and I travel as much as possible.
Was Stratford the last stage before you finally moved to the heart of London?
Exactly. The following year I moved at the Saint George’s Hotel in the town centre. I stayed there for about seven years, until 1970, initially working as a waiter and then as restaurant manager. It was a good little job. Then one day I was chatting to a client, Mr Hellery, an Austrian who owned a building with a cinema that he managed himself, and a restaurant. He asked if I wanted to take on the restaurant and I accepted. It was this that became the first ‘Vasco and Pietro’s Pavilion’.
Amazing. So it was just by chance?
Even more than that, it was a gamble for my ex-partner Piero and I, especially as my wife was pregnant at the time. It could have been deemed a risk, in that the premises were rather different and avant-garde for the time. One of the waiters asked if I was mad taking it on. In the beginning it was hard, but then one day a very well-known magazine, ‘Time Out’, wrote a fantastic review. Thanks to this things got better, and we stayed in that building until we moved to Poland Street in 1987, where we are to this day. We are a small restaurant that makes real food.
Could you explain why you chose Italian, and specifically Umbrian food?
One reason is that, at that time, there weren’t many Italian chefs. Most were French whilst the Italians were more likely to be waiters. In fact I was ‘born’ serving, not cooking. I liked the idea of using simple ingredients to make simple traditional dishes, and it’s what we still do today. Italian and Umbrian food was something different then; there was a type of prejudice about it. Nowadays things have changed and it is very much appreciated.
So, you have built an amazing business which has become a ‘must’ stop-off point for those passing through…
On the one hand we have our longstanding clients, including Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin (from Monthy Python – Ed.) and Ralph Fiennes, a couple of people to whom I have suggested visiting Umbria among others. On the other hand, there are a lot of youngsters who are looking to gain some work experience, including some from Città di Castello who have now gone on to open their own restaurants; people like Enzo Neri (one of the personalities featured on the front page of the first edition of ‘The Mag’- Ed.), Patrizio from ‘Dagamò’, Sara from ‘Pappa e Ciccia’, Daniele from ‘Caldese’, Davide from ‘Belvedere’ and Rodolphe from ‘Da Noi’.
How has London changed in the last 40 years?
In my opinion it has changed a lot, and for the better. It’s still changing now; it’s growing, as is the rest of England. London is constantly on the move, always active and working towards the future – the investments made over the last few years have proved this. London is a metropolis where there is something for everyone. Of course over the last few years with the economic crisis, things have changed slightly for restaurants. There’s more competition and people spend less, but we always manage to come through.
What do you think about Italy? Do you feel more English or Italian after all these years?
A cousin of mine once said that I was English even before I moved there! Joking aside, I’m happy and live well in England. There’s more respect for the rules there. But I’m also happy to come back to Italy to visit; I still have strong ties with many people who I always try to meet up with when I’m here. It’s the country where I was born and I can’t not love it. The Italian and English sides to my character are reflected in my children, both my sons are very attached to both England and Italy.
http://www.the-mag.org/en/in-the-heart-of-london-vasco-matteucci/
To see more click the link to go to Google books … Google Books
Staff unhappy after top presenters taken to swish eatery against backdrop of job losses and row over George Entwistle payoff.
With the BBC facing flak over the director general George Entwistle’s payoff after he resigned over Newsnight’s bungled child sex abuse story, it might not have been the best time to take star news presenters including Fiona Bruce for an £800, licence fee-funded group bonding meal in Soho.
Mary Hockaday, head of the BBC newsroom, hosted the event on Monday night for about 20 key stars and staff at Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion, a restaurant that says it offers, “beautiful Umbrian cuisine in the heart of Soho”.
The dinner was held in the restaurant’s private room and is estimated to have cost about £800. The BBC said it had secured a reasonable group-booking rating for the restaurant, where main course prices range from £15.50 to £23.50, and that those attending were being asked to make a contribution.
Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion is a favourite with stars including Michael Palin and Kirsten Dunst and has won plaudits for its menu, which includes roast duck with Umbrian fennel pollen and spinach.
However, the timing of the BBC News dinner has been questioned by some corporation staff.
One said it was strange to hold such a “lavish dinner while the BBC is being so publicly castigated” over BBC News’ handling of Newsnight’s abandoned investigation into Jimmy Savile and the same programme’s botched 2 November report about alleged child abuse in north Wales – a broadcast that ultimately cost Entwistle his job.
Entwistle was paid £450,000 – a year’s salary, when the BBC was only contractually obliged to pay him six months’ notice – as part of a settlement that BBC Trust chairman, Lord Patten, was forced to defend once again before MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee on Tuesday morning.
BBC News is also facing budget cuts and 140 post closures as part of the corporation’s Delivering Quality First cost-cutting strategy.
In March, Hockaday outlined the impact of DQF on the BBC newsroom in an email to staff which said: “It’s never easy making savings … But like everyone, we are expected to focus on what’s most important to our audiences and to continue to find ways to be as efficient as possible.”
A BBC insider said some of the lesser-known BBC News presenters who were not invited to the dinner were put out and added: “I thought BBC News was pleading poverty.”
A BBC spokeswoman said: “We occasionally get our presenters together so that we can all meet up in one place, build team relationships and discuss current issues and future plans. We are always mindful of keeping costs down so secured a reasonable group-booking rate. On this occasion, all those who attended are being asked to make a contribution to costs and are happy to do so.”
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/nov/27/bbc-meal-job-losses-george-entwistle
Of Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion Restaurant https://www.vascosfood.com/, legendary food critic Fay Maschler recently wrote within a review: The strange name refers to a time in the early 1970s when this restaurant was above the Cinema Academy (sadly no more) and decor as camp as a row of tents was supplied by surrealist photographer Angus McBean. Serenely supervising the kitchen is the venerable chef Vasco Matteucci who imports wild herbs, oil, cheeses, truffles and cured meats from his native Umbria. Pasta is made on the premises and tortelloni – not to be missed – might have fillings as various as wild mushroom, duck, sea bass, or aubergine. Food is simple and good; assemblies on the plate could never be accused of showing off. Eating here is like eating in Italy – and in Soho of old when it was the area you had to visit to find olive oil to buy. Lunchtime attracts media folk, evenings canny politicians. Gordon Brown wooed Sarah here.Terry Gilliam says: ‘Which is your favourite London restaurant? Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion on Poland Street, W1, because it does brilliant Umbrian cooking and it’s always good.’ Source: www.thisislondon.co.uk
http://blog.abodeitaly.com/2010/09/corner-of-umbria-in-london.html
Good morning Paul,
Well, all I can say is, again, thank you. My parents, who have never been as bonkers about food and eating as me, (but who have always appreciated and understood when they are eating good food), have been transformed into me by your restaurant. No sooner had they got home than my mother called me in the office to recount at great length all of the delicious things they ate.
Whilst I was exceedingly pleased to hear her absolutely bubbling with joy over their meal, I was deeply peeved that I couldn’t have been there too! So watch out for me, I shall be making sure I get to come to you before long!
Two questions I wondered if you could help me with.
1) What was the spaghetti on the menu yesterday? Apparently, my parents’ friend was very impressed that this certain type of spaghetti was on the menu as it was the best type. My parents keep saying words like ‘veocchi’ to me, but I have no idea what that is!?
2) In the antipasti, there was a type of fish paté..? What was it? My father, never one for “fishy fish”, or even fish in general, was very taken with it. And, as is his way after trying something he wouldn’t normally and loving it, I am now tasked with recreating said paté.
Gulp!
Anyway, the real point of this email is to thank you and all of your team. Without being fussy or excessive, you made it a very special lunch for them.
Best wishes,
Henrietta
“Letting the cat out of the bag!!”
“This has to be the West Ends best kept secret!! V and P have been around for years and years and yet I had never heard of it let alone been there!! What a discovery! What a find! Italian at its most authentic, Italian at its very best. An obviously big local following but sadly not enough Weekend business, it being so low key. Fell madly in love with everything on the imaginative and highly affordable menu; especially the handmade Halibut Tortelloni, the Burrata from Puglia and the Handmade Tagliatelle with traditional Umbrian Beef Ragu.”
Reviewed 19 November 2012 on trip advisor
“This place is excellent – fresh, delicate, perfectly prepared and presented food. In an area where there are so many pre-theatre menus and ‘deals’ that are just plain mediocre, Vasco and Piero’s is just plain wonderful.”
Excellent Umbrian food!
“10 of us went to Vasco’s last night for my birthday. It’s tucked away on non-descript Poland Street but is decorated in a warm and welcoming manner. The food was delicious and the swordfish was a real treat, tasting fresh and well balanced. Those who had the pasta seemed to enjoy their food. I would advise ordering a side of potatoes with any meat dish as the Atkins diet was fully enforced and the chicken looked a little lonely.
Desserts with an amaretto theme were swiftly devoured by all. The service was excellent throughout – the waiters giving you space but ever attentive. Overall a very enjoyable meal – the perfect start to what ended up a very boozy night!”
Review by HavanaClub2012 via Trip Advisor on 16 September 2012
‘We’re not here to be trendy, we’re here for longevity,’ affirms Paul, whose father, Vasco, was born in Umbria & has long-standing links with his suppliers in the region.
Unsurprisingly, the majority of Vasco and Piero’s customers are regulars (admen, politicos, Michael Palin), with repeat business lunchers taking over the downstairs room for set-menu gatherings.
Calf’s liver & spaghetti with prawns are perennial favorites, with winter specials including porchetta (stuffed, sliced pork loin with fennel & rosemary), guinea fowl with wild mushrooms, & panettone bread & butter pudding; also look out for seasonal truffle specialties & regional wines from Umbria.
The decor of white walls, tapestry-covered chairs & warm-toned sketches of the region never changes much. Readers enjoy the ‘lack of pretense’, & rate Vasco & Piero’s as a restaurant that ‘gets the fundamentals right’
SquareMeal Review of Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion Restaurant 2012
“We were lucky enough to have been featured in a very short list of top Italian restaurants recently by London 43“.
“The problem with cooking pasta, for me, is that anyone thinks they can do it. It seems easy. But with all the kinds of pasta that exist and their specific boiling time, and their appropriate type of sauce, and more importantly, the process of making it … I guess it’s not that easy”
Sushi Academy Launch
“With only a week to create this event – it had to be one our fastest event creations. Our client, the owners of the Sushi Academy had invited prestigious guests from the food world to watch sushi demonstrations and enjoy their samples. The location was a City based meeting venue, which offered a smart setting, however much of the restaurant and kitchen atmosphere had to be recreated. We helped plan the audiovisual/ service/ print and layout elements in conjunction with the venue. With a positive turn out the 2-hour session flew by with Hiroyuki Kanda (3 star Michelin Chef flown in from Japan) giving sushi demonstrations with honorary guests from Gauthier Soho and Vasco Piero’s Pavilion Restaurant.”
The Independent 9 September 2010 – Ben Fennell, Chief Executive Officer, BBH Advertising
The Independent – 28th September 2010
“The venue: Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion in Soho. It does great Italian food, has a great vibe and is buzzy but as private as you need.
The company: Mark Collier, who is the founding partner of Dare digital marketing.
The conversation: We share quite a lot of clients including Vodafone and Barclays so we chat about them. We also talk about digital and traditional agency convergence. Mark’s son also plays for my old rugby club.
On the menu: “I’m shockingly consistent. I have the calves’ liver, spinach and a tomato and onion salad every time I go. I’m running a half marathon in three weeks, so this was a water-based lunch.”
Come here often? I probably do one work lunch a week, not really more, and only about four boozy lunches a year. ”
Squaremeal 2010
” V&P has clocked up four decades of service to ‘simple & straightforward Italian food’ & has a reputation for discretion, yet it still comes as a surprise to spot a Hollywood star & a posh British designer having a quiet night ”
The Observer 11 October 2009 – Michael Palin
“Umbrian dishes are cooked to perfection. it does everything right from the interesting homestyle cucina at decent prices to the personal touch plus the adventurous wine list is speckled with gems. ”
Square Meal Restaurant Guide 2007
Nominated for best Italian restaurant
Zagat Survey 2007
“The daily menu is typical Umbrian cooking. Try wild mushroom tortelloni with truffle butter, tagliata of Angus beef with rucola & parmesan or grilled salmon with shallots. ”
Evening Standard 15th January 2004 – Dining – Fay Maschler
Italian Restaurant of the Year
“The original restaurant used to be above the Academy cinema on Oxford Street, where I would watch films in the 70s. Sometimes only my wife Helen and I were in there. It was a lovely haven. When the Academy closed in the early 80s the restaurant moved to Poland Street. For a while, it did OK business, and then suddenly it began to fill up.
The secret of its success is absolute consistency. I’ve never been disappointed in a meal here. I always bring friends here because it is not pretentious; it hasn’t got the baggage of a restaurant living on its reputation. No one comes here to be seen. People come here not to be seen. And if you don’t know what to order, Vasco will bring you a sample to taste to help you make up your mind. Everything is very lightly done; there is nothing heavy. I nearly always have the calves’ liver, as it’s the best in London. Our children come now with their friends. They’ve sort of inherited it. I hear more news about my children from Vasco than I do from them. It has always felt like a home from home. ”
ITV London Restaurant Awards
“The Pavilion has been a Soho fixture for the past thirty years. But there is nothing old or institutional about the cooking or décor. The establishment has long been a favourite with diners who appreciate the food, which is fairly simple but made with top-class ingredients. Dishes are biased towards Umbrian cuisine. Customers include the great and the good, and the Pavilion’s modern yet comfortable atmosphere guarantees them anonymity. ”
Harpers & Queen 2004 – Jennifer Sharpe
“food, a fabulous wine list and a very friendly front of house team. Menu changes daily & reflect a love of ingredients that are allowed to express themselves. ”
Rough Guide 2004 – Consistently one of the best restaurants in Soho. Superb.
“V&P is bust most nights with a crowd looking for quality Italian food, a buzzy atmosphere, and friendly efficient service. Fresh pasta features often as do the ingredients of Vasco’s beloved Umbria. ”
Square Meal 2006
“I’ve been eating here for donkeys’ years. It’s simple Umbrian food with a good winelist. ”
Ken Livingstone – Hardens Restaurant Guide 2006
“Friendly staff with a personal touch. Its honest Italian cooking is good value. ”
Time Out 2006
“Such is the homely appeal of this place that, once discovered, many keep it on their list of places to go to again & again. ”
” The food is authentically unpretentious and healthy. Regulars, of whom there are many, like it that way. Handmade tortelloni, whether stuffed with wild mushrooms or asparagus, are not to be missed. The family of staff work loyally and efficiently. ”
Tio Pepe, Carlton Television London Restaurant Awards 2004