As the largest performing arts centre in Europe and home to the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as the London and BBC Symphony Orchestras, understandably food has never been the focus at London’s Barbican Centre. This is all set to change though, with the arrival of chef Anthony Demetre’s new restaurant, Osteria.
Located on the second floor of the Grade II listed Brutalist building, the restaurant’s windows are smartly lined with tables, providing diners with views of the centre’s iconic fountains. Led by head chef Patrick Leano, formerly of Demetre’s Michelin-starred Arbutus in Soho, the bold menu focuses on seasonal Italian produce; creamy burrata is served with crispy artichokes and sweet carrots and hazelnuts, while the suckling pig yields to the gentlest pressure of the fork.
We suggest kicking off with a rum-infused Negoroni before settling into a starter of grilled octopus with potatoes and smoked peppers, followed by a deliciously al dente veal tagliatelle. Finish off with a blood orange semi-freddo before retiring to the bar for a postprandial tipple.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Barbican, Level 2
-
Gucci turns its windows into an endless library of books, artefacts and rare treasuresFeaturing a collaboration with artist Luca Pignatelli, ‘Endless Narratives’ unfolds in Gucci store windows worldwide – a reflection of creative director Sabato de Sarno’s broad cultural interests
-
Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025: Formafantasma revisits the masculine codes of modernist designFormafantasma wins a Wallpaper* Design Award 2025, for its Milan exhibition ‘La Casa Dentro’, which took to task the inherent masculinity and conservatism at the heart of modernism
-
Lesley Lokko reviews 2024's wins, shifts, tensions and opportunities for 2025Lesley Lokko, the British-Ghanaian architect, educator, curator, and founder and director of the African Futures Institute (AFI), has been an inspirational presence in architecture in 2024; which makes her perfectly placed to discuss the year, marking the 2025 Wallpaper* Design Awards
-
London’s first all-suite hotel, The Emory, wins Wallpaper* Design Award 2025The Emory earns our Best Suites award for flawlessly embodying the creative aesthetic of a host of world-class designers
-
Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025: meet the travel winners transcending destinationsDiscover the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025 travel winners: the year’s places to stay, dine, drink and join
-
Don’t Tell Dad: comfort eating is hot stuff at this new London bakery and restaurantA bakery in the morning, a restaurant from lunchtime, Don’t Tell Dad is the talk of Queen’s Park
-
Fine dining is plant-powered at this intimate east London restaurantChef Kirk Haworth’s Plates, designed by Design & That, thrives in its synergetic dialogue between people, nature and ingredients
-
The design-led restaurants to know in 2025This year’s most read-about restaurant openings to inspire your 2025 cravings, from a playful diner in New York to an art-and-dining hub in Marrakech
-
The most whimsical hotel Christmas trees around the worldWe round up the best hotel Christmas tree collaborations of the year, from an abstract take in Madrid to a heritage-rooted installation in Amsterdam
-
Wallpaper* checks in at Hyde London City, the perfect free-spirited boltholeHyde London City, the brand’s UK hotel debut, brings contagious energy and maximalism to a Victorian classic
-
The Park: step inside Jeremy King's mid-century dinerOne of several 2024 openings from restauranteur, Jeremy King, food critic Ben McCormack books in at The Park
