Three friends and I visited Spuntino for dinner. I've been wanting to eat there since it opened but have been put off by the queues (there's a no booking policy), preferring not to stand in line for food, as if we're living in the aftermath of a total economic collapse. This time I relented however, as my companions were also keen to check this place out, being fans of proprieter Russell Norman's cicchetti-esque joints, Polpo and Polpetto. Spuntino is in fact another name for cicchetti, but the Spuntino restaurant focuses on small plates of American Diner classics as opposed to Italian. We were advised that the wait would be about about 45 minutes, which bearing in mind the hype surrounding anything Russell Norman at the moment seemed to be the best we could hope for if we wanted to eat here before the decade's through. So queue we did (with a bottle of wine) and the 45 minute estimate turned out to be spot-on. It's a tiny restaurant of only 25 covers, which are all set round the bar with the exception of a table for 7 at the back of the room. The busy little room has such low lighting that the staff occasionally needed the aid of torches to see what they were doing.
We started with deep-fried olives, which contained an unadvertised and unwelcome anchovy filling. This reconfirmed my opinion that olives don't need to be deep fried, nor stuffed.
Far more successful were the deep-fried buttermilk chicken wings, a crunchy breadcrumbed exterior surrounding perfectly cooked chicken. One of the best examples I've had of this often poorly executed classic.
Our other selection from the starter part of the menu was mozzarella and cavolo nero crostini. This was generously portioned with lashings of soft mozzarella, and the bitterness of the cabbage off set by some zingy lemon. This plate exceeded expectations.
We rounded the meal off my sampling all four of their "sliders", or mini-burgers to most of us. I felt that the cheap white bread buns distracted from the fillings by being too large for the patties inside hence disrupting the important meat / bread ratio. I was surprised that the same buns were used for all four fillings. I know that this isn't supposed to be a high-end dining experience but felt as though they could have made a bit more of an effort with this. None of the sliders knocked my socks off, the mackral being the least favoured amongst our group, and the melting pulled pork being the winner. We ordered shoe string fries with these, of which I'm not a fan but you'd doubtless like if you're into this particular style of chip. They're more like crisps than chips and go cold if not wolfed down within a couple of minutes of being served.
Overall I enjoyed our meal at Spuntino. The food is of good quality and is well priced - we paid £35 a head which included two shared bottles of wine and a cocktail each. The dining room was atmospheric, and the trendy staff knowledgeable and friendly. However, rarely is food worth queueing for. It's not the restaurant's fault, just that there aren't enough casual dining spots like this in London. I'd love to be able to pop in for a cocktail and a couple of snacks before moving on elsewhere, but the fact you have to queue for so long detracts from the very ethos of the place, that it's a casual dining experience. There's nothing casual about formulating plans, but unfortunately this is what you must do if you want to visit Spuntino.
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