All-Day Dining Group to Open First Italian Cafe in Brixton

The restaurateurs behind Canova Hall in Brixton and Martello Hall in Hackney will open a new Italian café and cocktail bar on Brixton’s Ferndale Road.

Opening in October 2018, Cattivo will be the third site from Albion & East group, and the first to move away from the all-day dining model at halls Canova and Martello: a focus on Italian café culture will be paired with an underground cocktail bar, complemented by a late license and cabaret-style entertainment. Food and drink promises the inevitable small plates, capturing London’s pasta zeitgeist with a southern Italian slant: expect a focus on tomato-based sauces, dishes flecked with chilli heat from Calabria and Sicily, summer vegetables (in summer) and ragù in cooler months. The group’s halls have traditionally focussed on gin-based drinks and the art and science of distillation, with more of the same promised for Cattivo.

Cattivo’s opening sets the stage for a third hall — Serata — slated to open early 2019 on the Bower development at Old Street, home to the likes of Shoreditch Grind, Bone Daddies, Honest Burger, and Ceviche: prominent and prolific mini-chains bucking the mid-market trend.