What: A neighbourhood Italian restaurant occupying a cute corner spot on Highbury Park and Lucerne Road near London’s Finsbury Park.
Who: Highbury locals Ed Templeton and Theo James are behind the project. If they sound familiar, that’s because Templeton is co-founder of Carousel, the rotating supper club style restaurant on Charlotte Street, and James is an actor best known for his role as Tobias Eaton in The Divergent Series film trilogy, as a tech bro in the second series of The White Lotus, and as Edward ‘Eddie’ Horniman in Guy Ritchie’s TV series The Gentlemen. They are joined in the kitchen by head chef Naz Hassan, a Bangladesh born, Milan raised chef whose CV includes head chef roles at London restaurants Pidgin and Crispin and Torino-born pastry chef Alessandro Boscolo.
The food: Lupa serves a succinct menu of Roman comfort food that is described by Templeton as being ‘casual, fun and delicious’ and which will feature a regularly changing roster of seasonal specials with an emphasis on regional specialities from Rome and the surrounding Lazio region. Things kick of simply with hunks of focaccia with olive oil before the choice of just three starters - a selection of salume; fried courgette flower with burrata and anchovy; and slices of rich-coloured riccio fiorentino tomatoes with capers, lemon zest and pangrattato. There’s four pastas to choose from, the star of which is a paccheri alla carbonara in a silky egg yolk based sauce so glossy you can see your reflection in it. Mains are deliciously perfunctory - porchetta is a served as a single hefty slice with nothing else, as are lamb cutlets at £9 each, but sides of roast potatoes with olive oil and rosemary; and asparagus, broad beans, artichokes, peas and butter provide a welcome foil to the richness of the meat. Desserts have been whittled down to just two options - a generous helping of tiramisu and a slice of cherry and ricotta pie.
To drink: Stretching to just one page, which is printed in the reverse of the menu, Lupa’s drinks list has a little something for everyone in terms of prices, although those wanting something other than Italian wine will find themselves in the wrong place. Cocktails include a Negroni made with Malfy gin; a fig leaf liqueur; and the M&M, made with The Lost Explorer Espadín mezcal, Amaro Montenegro, and Mr Black Coffee and there’s a smattering of Italian sparkling and orange options as well as a rose option - the only non-Italian wine on the list. White wines - of which they are five on the list, start at £35 and top out at £92, while there is one more red on offer, with prices ranging from £35 to £84, and a couple are also available by the glass. The beer offer, meanwhile, stays true to the only-Italian offer, with Bionda, Ambrata and Zero-Zero options of Italian beer Menabrea the three options available.
The vibe: There is a temptation to describe Lupa’s interior as rustic, but the small restaurant has rather opted to keep things super simple, with whitewashed walls, wooden furniture and net curtains that block out the traffic of Highbury Park but not the light, which bathes the room in an inviting glow. Tables are close together to create that neighbourhood restaurant buzz that sits well with the food offer and on the night we went the restaurant had to turn away reluctantly quite a few people who happened to be passing but who will no doubt become regulars.
And another thing: In London we are led to believe that Italians eat like a wolf. Lupa translates as the female term for wolf in Italian, as opposed to the male wolf ‘lupo’, which is used in Jacob Kenedy’s regional Italian restaurant in Soho Bocca di Lupo.
73 Highbury Park, London N5 1UA / www.lupa.restaurant/