Latest news with #JoeWorthington
New European
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New European
Josh Barrie on food: Why lasagne is having a moment
The one currently having its moment is lasagne (or lasagna, if you live in Bromsgrove in reality but Brooklyn in your head). Not that it ever really went away, but suddenly it's the dish of the day. Dishes do have their moments, don't they? Little tickles of hype-fuelled flippancy, doses of fashion like so many frocks. The cyclical nature of food trends is often dictated by affordability, for both chefs and diners. Lasagne is cheap, relatively speaking. Smashburgers came back to the fore last year for much the same reason. The same with monkfish some years ago. All these gourmet sandwiches doing the rounds also qualify. They are fanciful, big and brash, elegantly made with elaborate fillings in expensive bread. But they are still sandwiches. They feel luxurious, but still only cost a tenner or thereabouts. We need things like this to sustain us, but they grant us licence, too, to feel that life is worth living. Lasagne is now taking its turn in an ongoing churn where chefs, restaurateurs – anyone in the food game, in fact – falls back on a proponent of certainty, one intended to bring about some semblance of calm amid the storm. Because who doesn't like lasagne? More to the point, most people can afford it. It's no caviar, no Dover sole. It's all the better for it. One restaurant is betting on lasagne more than most. Senza Fondo! in London (other cities should brace for expansion) is building an entire brand on it, serving unlimited – seriously – portions for £20 per head. Never mind that the lasagne has attracted some sniffy reviews ('a gimmick best ignored' said the Standard), the place is booked out for the next three months. Yeah, the unlimited pasta for the price of a Nando's might have something to do with it, but I'm not convinced there's a better food to do it with. Comforting? Lasagne defines the word. Of course Senza Fondo! has caused online drama. What content creator doesn't want to be seen to be eating endless portions of meat folded softly between sheets of pasta, the latter curled and eggy yellow, the mince imbued in deep red, shimmering, glistening below a creamy canopy? You can hardly blame the TikTokers for taking up space, or moan about founder Joe Worthington for cashing in on the trend. The fact he calls himself 'Chief Béchamel Officer' is abhorrent, though. Yet the fact he's putting on £5 Negronis for customers until their food arrives shows he's clearly among the savviest newcomers to the industry. But the great lasagne boom is more than just Senza Fondo! There are countless restaurants, high-end, mid- and beyond, providing solace to the struggling by way of the 14th-century classic that begs, borrows and steals from numerous Italian regions. There is traditional lasagne but also yesterday's slices, deep-fried and served as nuggets to be dipped in marinara sauce or aioli or both. Jackson Boxer's, made with taleggio and truffle and found at his casual Notting Hill restaurant Dove might be the best, but you don't have to look far to find something similar. Lasagne is everywhere right now, served any which way. But I must direct you to Cafe Verona, Moorgate, an Anglo-Italian cafe and sandwich bar which has been there since anyone can remember. Pound for pound, it does the best British-style lasagne around, superior to any other I've tried in town. At Cafe Verona, the pasta is soft; the mince is coarse and simple; the tomato sauce resolute but far from elegant or singing of San Marzano; the béchamel is thick, boundless and generous; the comfort is everything. A portion costs much less than £20 (a little over a tenner, in fact) and who needs more than one anyway, really? I reckon I could do three on the bounce but I'd suffer for it. I am not Garfield the cat, nor that once-deranged eating machine Adam Richman, who used to devour whole cities for the purposes of good telly. No, I shall return, happily, to Cafe Verona, and enjoy lasagne as it is meant to be here: unceremonious; just dinner, without the faff.
.png%3Ftrim%3D0%2C82%2C0%2C81%26width%3D1200%26height%3D800%26crop%3D1200%3A800&w=3840&q=100)
The Independent
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
London is getting a bottomless lasagne restaurant (with a ‘lasangwich' and cheap cocktails)
A new London restaurant is bringing the concept of a 'bottomless' dining experience to a whole new level with all-you-can-eat lasagne. The UK capital's buzzing creative neighbourhood Shoreditch is about to gain yet another distinctive eatery in the form of Senza Fondo (which translates to 'without end' in English), which hopes to live up to its name and provide customers with as much lasagne as they can eat. The Italian-American restaurant is currently taking reservations ahead of its soft opening on 20 February on Rufus Street in Shoreditch, with the hard launch coming soon after on 24 February. While other menu items are available, from a mushroom ragu pasta to small pepperoni and hot honey 'pizzettes', the star of the show comes in layers of slow-cooked beef, pasta sheets and bechamel sauce. The bottomless lasagne is available for £20, allowing customers to eat as many lasagne squares as they can in a sitting. On the new restaurant's social media, Senza Fondo founder Joe Worthington walked through how they make the mighty pasta slice. The process includes slow-cooking beef shin for five hours, using garlic and herb butter in the bechamel, and layering it all up with lasagne sheets and fresh parmesan. Each slice is then wood-fired to create a crispy top, before plating it on top of an extra ladle of bechamel sauce. Also on the menu is also a bottomless artichoke lasagne for the same price. At the helm of the kitchen will be chef Michael Bagnall, who has popped up at several London locations such as Naughty Piglets in Brixton and Bruno Wine Bar in Hackney. There will also be daily off-menu dishes such as burnt lasagne ends. Bottomless lasagne is not the only deal Senza Fondo is offering. If you decide to sit down for a drink before having food, the house negroni will cost only £5 rather than £9.50. Restaurant-goers can spend time sipping their tipples at the 'Kevin Lasagna Bar' found tucked away at the back of the restaurant, which pays homage to Italian footballer Kevin Lasagna, with football memorabilia adorning the bar. 'I always like to arrive at a restaurant early to head to the bar – soaking in the atmosphere, getting a drink and just witnessing the magic of dining out. It gets me all giddy for what's to come,' said Mr Worthington. The restaurant owner has an extensive background in the hospitality industry, having held posts as beverage manager at Australian hospitality groups and at Hawksmoor steak restaurants in the UK. 'It's always been my dream to open my own restaurant,' Mr Worthington said. 'London's restaurant scene is in a great place, but I've seen a gap for bigger plates and bigger energy. 'I believe there is truly nothing better than having dinner with friends, family or anyone in between, and my restaurant will be all about the people.' He adds: 'When great people come together, magic happens – and that's what Senza Fondo is all about. That, and serving the best lasagne in London.' After the launch of Senza Fondo, the restaurant says a lunchtime hatch will soon follow, which will offer a daily limited run of a 'Lasangwich' to Londoners on their lunchbreak – although what makes up a 'lasangwich' is yet to be revealed.
