The White Lotus star Theo James is opening a second Italian restaurant, this time with a focus on food from northern Italy.
Called Ornella, in homage to the Milanese singer Ornella Vanoni, the 48-cover restaurant will open in London Fields at the end of April. It is a follow up to Lupa, a Roman-inspired restaurant in Highbury which launched last year.
James, again working with with Carousel co-founder Ed Templeton and executive chef Naz Hassan, said Ornella will be a Milanese restaurant.
Signature dishes include classics such as cotoletto di vitello (breaded veal cutlet), mondeghili meatballs (leftover beef or veal breaded and fried, usually served without sauce and sometimes enriched with mortadella), and risotto alla Milanese, a dish rarely executed with any degree of nous in London.
The menu will also span other parts of northern Italy, offering the likes of vitello tonnato from Turin, zuppa Inglese, another dynastic speciality which probably came from Ferrara, and penne alla vodka, which can actually be traced back to Tuscany but which was popularised in New York.
Templeton said of the venture: "We'd always spoken about doing another one but I don't think we ever imaged we'd be opening a second restaurant just nine months later.
"When we were discussing the concept, we knew immediately that we had to give Naz the chance to cook the food of his home city. He's exceptionally talented, as is his sous chef Sandro."
Templeton also didn’t rule out the possibility of opening a second Lupa.
Ornella comes in a long line of new Italian restaurants to open in London in the last 12 months, including Osteria Vibrato, Tiella, and Burro, with Auguste, also in London Fields, opening around the same time.
51 Wilton Way, London E8 1BG, @ornella.restaurant
