Bancone London – Tiny Urban Kitchen

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Bancone London

London is such an expensive city, especially the dining scene. So it’s no wonder that a place like Bancone – with its beautiful dining space, trendy “gram-worthy” pastas, vibrant energy, and surprisingly reasonable prices – is so, so popular.

In fact, Bancone has a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and can be difficult to book, especially last minute.

Bancone London

Thankfully, there are four locations: Covent Garden, Golden Square, Borough Yards, and Kensington. Covent Garden is (not surprisingly) the most difficult to book. Golden Square, which is pretty central, is next in terms of difficulty.

Because we were staying near the Tower of London, Borough Yards was actually quite convenient for us, AND it was easier to book. Double score!

Bancone London

There are booths and counter seats. At the counter, you can watch the chefs make obscene amounts of pasta (just look at how much butter they go through in one meal!).

Starters

Bancone London
First things first: Before pasta we tried several starters. If you are a veggie lover, you may struggle here. The menu doesn’t have that many vegetable options. We opted for the Cauliflower Salad, which included thinly sliced raw caullifower tossed in lemon, smoked almond, and a lot of shaved pecorino sardo, a type of sheep’s milk cheese (£9)
Bancone London
The Lardo + Toast was simple but delicious. We were with a friend, and she liked it so much we all ordered another one!
Bancone London
A gorgeous entire piece of Burrata came served with confit tomatoes, crouton, and basil. (£12)

The Pasta that went Viral on Social Media

Bancone London
Bancone’s signature dish is the Silk Handkerchief, large sheets of al dente pasta served with walnut butter and confit egg yolk. (£12)
Bancone London
The texture of the freshly housemade pasta was fantastic. The sauce was rich and creamy, yet balanced out somehow by the crushed nuts.
Bancone London
We were in luck! That day they had a really unique special dish of the day: Silk Handkerchiefs Carbonara! I thought Bryan was crazy for ordering both, but I’m glad he did. It was quite interesting to try them side by side, and honestly, I think both of us enjoyed the special version more. Although it’s nothing like an authentic carbonara (which wouldn’t use so much butter), this dish still captured the essence of it. Plus, the crispy guanciale added a lovely crispy salty component that we both liked.
Bancone London
Another favorite, this vibrant and spicy pasta gets is jet black color from the charcoal tagliolini. Flavors of the sesa come from the use of seaweed butter and generous amounts of Bottarga (fish roe) sprinkled on top and infused in the sauce. Amalfi lemon adds much needed citrus to balance out this rich but very flavorful dish. (£16)
Bancone London
Spicy Pork & Nduja Ragù with fresh tagliatelle is a classic and was executed well (£14.5).
Bancone London
We tried this vegetarian Gnocchetti Sardi, which came with cime di rapa, broccoli, and pickled chili. (£11) It was quite tasty, but I found the butter-based sauce to be quite heavy after a few bites.
Bancone London
Bucatini cacio e pepe (£13) was also very tasty, though also rich!

If You’re Still Hungry, there is a Meat Option

Bancone London
Although pasta is certainly the main spotlight at Bancone, there is ONE meat dish. It’s actually a lovely pork shop, and it comes with a refreshing side salad as well. I’m actually glad we ordered this. It’s a nice balance to the pasta dishes.

Dessert

Bancone London
I absolutely loved this dessert! The Fior di latte ice cream was perfect, topped with a generous amount of Omina Romana olive oil, rosemary, and sea salt (£7). The olive oil and salt were key. I really think more people should try adding EVOO and salt to their ice cream. It’s sooooo good!
Bancone London
The Crème Caramello, a delicate coffee pudding (vegetarian!) came with toasted buckwheat (£7) and was nice as well.
Bancone London

General Thoughts – Bancone London

What can I say? Bancone has created a brilliant concept and they are executing it really well. I’m really impressed at the quality of the pasta dishes, the very reasonable prices, and the great overall dining experience. It’s no wonder they are so hot right now!

However, I did struggle at the limited options for vegetable lovers. I did enjoy the burrata with tomato, and the fresh salad that came with the pork chop was really quite nice. However, a large percentage of the dishes were made with lots of butter and are quite rich. It’s definitely not the type of place you’d want to eat at too many times a week, especially if you’re trying to eat healthy.

Having said that, it’s a great place to visit with friends. We enjoyed sharing multiple items throughout the menu. With friends, you can just take one or two bites of each pasta dish, and try many different ones. The portion sizes for the pasta dishes aren’t that big, so it’s no problem to order several pasta dishes!

Bancone Pasta London



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