A local Italian in the heart of the capital

Conor Gadd, the chef and co-owner of beloved Islington restaurant Trullo, was looking for a second space – perhaps in Notting Hill or Queen’s Park – but kept coming up against one deal-breaker. “I was sick of working in an old building, and it was a similar proposition in west London.”

Then he was shown a site in Covent Garden, and started to consider a more transient demographic. Later, on an early spring evening, Gadd toasted his first solo venture, Burro.

If Trullo is an elegant neighbourhood haunt, think of Burro as an urbane West End restaurant with the warmth of a local favourite. As smooth as its namesake (burro means butter in Italian), the interior’s soft-yellow walls, artworks chosen by Gadd and his wife, and midcentury-style furniture and fittings, calls to homely Irish farmhouses and Italian bistros.

Butter is also on the menu: uniting anchovies and crostini, bathing sole in a sauce with prosecco and caviar, beaten into the sink-into-it luxury of polenta – a bed for beef shin so tender it collapses when looked at.

There’s pasta, of course, he’s known for it, and Gadd sees Burro’s food as a continuation of Trullo’s, but with the freedom to evolve. “We’re trying to create fabulous new dishes that will weave into the tapestry of London’s food scene,” he says.

Gadd is excited about sunny days in Burro’s courtyard – taking a whole fish to friends having a leisurely lunch, or seafood crudo with a glass of something crisp to theatre-goers in need of a light meal before a show. He knows there’ll be a different crowd, with different needs, but has already noticed familiar faces returning. He keeps coming back to one idea: “Make Covent Garden local again.”

trattoriaburro.com