I’ve been a huge fan of the explosion of pasta restaurants in London and after seeing pictures of the incredible dishes on instagram, Emilia’s Crafted Pasta was immediately added to my Restaurant Hit List and it wasn’t long before I was able to visit.
Emilia’s Crafted Pasta is one of a collection of restaurants in St Katharine’s Dock, a short walk from Tower Bridge on the edge of the City of London and I think it’s one of London’s best kept secrets! The area is simply idyllic and gorgeous in summer with lots of boats in the water, the day we visited there was a boating event taking place so there was a fantastic atmosphere, the weather was great and all the boats were decorated with bunting.
We didn’t book a table in advance but we were really lucky to get the last table outside in the sunshine, overlooking the boats in the Marina. The inside of the restaurant was quite small and empty when we arrived but apparently all of those tables were booked and they certainly filled up as we had dinner. The open kitchen shows off the relaxed and friendly atmosphere at Emilia’s Crafted Pasta, making it a perfect place for a cosy and romantic date.
Emilia’s Crafted Pasta – What We Ordered
We started by ordering a glass of rose wine each (£5) as it was super summery and started looking at the menus which were quite simple and rustic, presented on brown paper which doubled up as placemats. As soon as I spotted the burrata (£7) on the menu I knew we had to start off with this! It was served with three slices of toasted ciabatta, a good drizzling of extra virgin olive oil and cracked black pepper. I absolutely love the creaminess of burrata and I could’ve eaten this again but I do think that the burrata at Flour & Grape had the edge ever so slightly; the olive oil had a fuller flavour and the portion of bread was more generous, but saying that it was still absolutely delicious and I would’ve happily eaten another portion to myself (read: greedy guts).
The pasta is freshly made every day and the menu is simple with just seven choices of pasta perfectly paired with an accompanying sauce as the restaurant claim
There’s an art to choosing the right pasta for the right sauce
There were several dishes that took my fancy but in the end I opted for what’s probably the restaurants most popular dish, the pappardelle pasta (£12.50) served with a béchamel bolognese that had been slow cooked for four hours and it arrived piled high with grated parmesan cheese – I’m not joking, I literally thought wow, is there any pasta with my cheese! It was so delicious, like happiness in a bowl and I enjoyed it so much that I didn’t want to share any (this is a sign of really good food). My friend chose the bucatini carbonara (£11.50) with pancetta instead of salmon with pecorino and beaten eggs and it looked really good. My only disappointment is that there wasn’t anything truffle related on the menu which is one of the things I really loved about Flour & Grape.
The table next to us ordered the salted caramel brownie with ice cream (£6) for dessert so we decided to do the same because it looked so good and it didn’t disappoint. The service was excellent, attentive and efficient but not intrusive and I loved the dreamy marble tables and the copper cutlery (read: instagram goals) . This really is a perfect date spot tucked away in London.
Emilia’s Crafted Pasta – 3/5
I enjoyed my visit to Emilia’s, I loved the setting and the food was delicious but if I’m being brutally honest, I’d rather go to Flour & Grape. If you love pasta, you should definitely give it a try!
Food – 3/5
Service – 3/5
Decor / Ambience – 4/5
The total cost for two people was £52.88 including service.
Have you visited Emilia’s Crafted Pasta before? Feeling Inspired? Check out my London Restaurant Hit List!
Emilia’s Crafted Pasta
C3, Ivory House
St Katharine Docks
St Katharine’s & Wapping
London
E1W 1AT
