From Soho to Exmouth Market and South Kensington, Macellaio has quietly taken up residence in some of London's best food spots. Wherever you find it, the offering is the same: excellent cuts of beef and a menu that knows exactly what it's doing.
At its simplest, Macellaio (Italian for “butcher”) sticks closely to a butcher-shop ethos, with carpaccio and tartare leading into sharing steaks, pastas, and sides that threaten to outshine the mains, like the lard on toast with walnut and honey.
Behind it all is Roberto Costa, the Genoese founder who still refers to himself, somewhat disarmingly, as a waiter. Macellaio RC was his first big hit in London, and it set the tone for the wider family of restaurants that followed.
Across the three spots, the menus aren't wildly different. There's a lot of overlap in the starters, pastas and grills, but the experience can feel slightly different depending on which one you visit. The Soho branch on Shaftesbury Avenue is busy, buzzy and a go-to for a dinner or pre-show meal with friends. While over on Exmouth Market, the vibe channels that laid-back Farringdon energy, with a fairly consistent crowd that includes both regulars and visitors. A lunch here feels more relaxed (and slightly less touristy than Soho), and the layout has a bit more breathing room, including outdoor seating when the weather plays ball.
Over in South Kensington, you get a similar steakhouse and Italian combo, but it attracts a bit more of the after-museum family crowd or local dinner plans around the tube stop. It's one of those spots you could easily swing by after the V&A or before a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Prices are broadly on par with the other sites (all of which are reasonable), and they even run Sunday roasts and lunch deals.
If you care most about the food, the focus is firmly on the steaks, with an emphasis on quality, breed and sourcing from Piedmontese Fassona to British Hereford and richly marbled Sashi. The rest of the menu stays deliberately simple, letting the beef do most of the talking.
It's a simple, well-established formula, and across its London locations, Macellaio delivers it with consistency.