Portobello Ristorante Pizzeria, the award-winning southern Italian restaurant on Ladbroke Road, is preparing to celebrate its 18th birthday. Over the years it has built the kind of following most restaurants can only dream of: regulars who return week after week, families who have grown up around its tables and visitors who quickly understand why it has become such a Notting Hill favourite.
At the heart is owner Andrea Ippolito, who opened Portobello Ristorante with his wife in 2008. For Andrea, the restaurant has always been about more than serving food. It is rooted in the traditions he grew up with in southern Italy: family meals that mattered, ingredients chosen with care and a style of hospitality built on warmth and consistency.
Although Portobello Ristorante may be known for its slow-risen sourdough pizza, the menu here is about so much more. Alongside southern Italian dishes and simply cooked seafood that reflect Andrea’s roots are signature fare such as Orata al Forno con Patate e Pomodorini, a whole sea bream baked with potatoes, cherry tomatoes, lemon & rosemary, and Tagliatelle ai Funghi Misti, made with fresh egg pasta and a mix of home-grown grey oyster, pioppini & cardoncelli mushrooms, along with wild porcini when the season allows.
The fungi used in the latter are part of Andrea’s wider connection to ingredients, which continues to evolve beyond the kitchen. His mushroom project began with childhood memories of foraging with his mother and the smell of wild mushrooms drying in the house. Today, he is growing varieties including grey oyster, pioppini and cardoncelli in a controlled environment inspired by the cool, damp conditions of the Campanian hills. For Andrea, it is as much about quality as it is bringing a piece of that southern Italian pantry culture back to west London.
This sense of generous and flavour-packed cooking also carries through to the restaurant’s seriously great set lunch menu, with two courses for just £21, available from Monday to Friday.
And with spring now bringing longer, sunnier days, Portobello Ristorante’s covered terrace really comes into its own, offering a lively spot for long lunches, early evening drinks and relaxed al fresco dining.
Andrea says, “As we get ready to celebrate 18 years, I feel proud that our restaurant still reflects everything we believed in when we opened it. For me, it has always been about proper ingredients, generous cooking and the kind of welcome that makes people feel looked after.”
As Portobello Ristorante prepares to mark this milestone, the anniversary is a celebration not only of longevity, but of the loyal following, family spirit and southern Italian hospitality that have made it such an enduring part of the west London dining scene.
Portobello Ristorante Pizzeria is open Monday to Thursday and Sunday from 12pm to 11pm, and Friday to Saturday from 12pm to 11.30pm.
