A collective gasp rippled through east London when, after less than a year and a half of trading, Bianca’s in Stoke Newington closed in August. Now, Da Pino has arrived in its place, helmed by members of the same team.
Head chef and co-owner Giuseppe “Pino” Pepe was previously head chef at Hackney’s Michelin-starred Casa Fofo, which is run by the team that opened Bianca’s. “I worked with the owner of Casa Fofo [Adolfo De Cecco] for a long time,” he tells Broadsheet. “He relocated to Paris with his family, so he couldn’t run Bianca’s anymore. I had given my notice at Casa Fofo because I was going to do my own project, so he was just like, ‘Why don’t you take this?’”
The buttercream-painted walls, pale wooden furniture and linen-lined room might remain the same, but when it comes to food, Da Pino is “more Italian in the way that it’s structured, with antipasti, primi and secondi”, Pepe says. “Bianca’s was more wine-focused and small-plates-ish. We’re trying to avoid that here.
“It’s more generous. It’s bigger portions of food – moreish and comforting, rather than more experimental food.”
Pepe and co-owner and restaurant manager Federico Giannuzzi both hail from Puglia – but Da Pino isn’t strictly an ode to their home country. “I feel like the London scene nowadays works in trends, right? Someone does something and then four restaurants that do the same cuisine appear,” Pepe says. “I don’t want to blend into the sea of Italian restaurants in London … We’re trying to do something that is still quite comfortable and not challenging for people, but in a modern key.”
Alongside traditional dishes like piadina (flatbreads) and tomato ravioli, the menu weaves in broadly Mediterranean and Asian influences, with dishes on the lighter end of the spectrum including raw scallops with peanut milk and green tomatoes, and red pepper and black sesame tart.
The grill is central. “Eighty per cent of the menu is cooked over fire and developed around the barbecue because we really like those punchy, charred flavours,” Pepe says. Such plates include aubergines with shiso and berries; chicken with kalibos cabbage; and trout with fennel.
But perhaps unsurprisingly, Puglian-style dishes are some of the most popular on the menu. One of them is grilled rice with mussels and potatoes. “It’s become a staple already in the first week,” Pepe says. “A lot of people were really impressed by the dish.”
Likewise, the bread with caramelised onion whipped butter has been a hit. “It’s a very southern Italian thing to eat, bread and onions. It’s kind of like peasant food. I ate it a lot as a child and [throughout the menu] there’s a lot of elements that kind of bring you to my childhood.”
The dessert range is purposely minimal. “We … have just one dessert so that whatever we do, we do it at its best,” Pepe says. “At the moment is a shiso semifreddo with a cultured-cream mousse and a coffee caramel. A lot of people have said it tastes like mint chocolate chip cookies.”
On Sundays, the regular menu is replaced with pizza by the slice. “It’s very crispy at the bottom, almost like Roman-style,” Pepe says.
To drink, there are beers and Italian classics such as Negronis and vermouth, as well as a mostly low-intervention wine list. Bottles start at around £35 to £40.
While the decor from Bianca’s remains mostly intact, a few subtle changes have been made. The counter is lined with tiles hand-painted by Pepe’s father-in-law, a former postman, and a few pieces of his art can also be found around the restaurant. The tiles were installed by Pepe’s father, who is a builder and flew over from Puglia to help out. Food is served on handmade plates and bowls from Grottaglie, a town in Puglia famous for its ceramics.
Despite earning and maintaining a Michelin star at Casa Fofo, Pepe isn’t particularly interested in receiving such acclaim at Da Pino. “I wanted to move away from fine dining in that sense, even though Casa Fofo was very casual and relaxed. We’re not working for that. The cooking is still fairly ambitious, but it’s not something that we are really chasing. I’d rather have the restaurant full.”
Da Pino
175 Stoke Newington Road, N16 8BP
Hours:
Wed to Fri 6pm–9:30pm
Sat 1pm–3pm, 6pm–9:30pm
Sun 3pm–11pm
