New Fitzrovia Restaurant Promises ‘An Honest Dialogue Between an Italian and an Israeli’

The restaurant in Mortimer House, Fitzrovia’s Art Deco redux development, is getting a new head chef. Lello Favuzzi, formerly of regional Italian fine dining restaurant L’Anima that closed in 2018, will launch “a vibrant and joyful Mediterranean menu” at 90-seater Mortimer House Kitchen that riffs on both his Italian roots and the Israeli heritage of the development’s founder, Guy Ivesha.

“The menu ... is an honest dialogue between an Italian and an Israeli,” Favuzzi says. “It’s a meeting point of our heritage, travels, combined love of simple cooking and spirited dishes that have the power to transport you, all the while capturing how we want to eat now.” Dishes like charcoal cauliflower, yoghurt and za’atar will sit alongside prawn crudo with celery cress and chilli, and beef carpaccio with black truffle. A dairy-free cheesecake with dates, carrots, walnuts, coconut and orange zest, meanwhile, nods to Tel Aviv’s status as a pioneer of vegan cuisine.

L’Anima, which served refined, region-specific Italian food in a glass room on the boundary between the City and Shoreditch, was owned by renowned Italian chef Francesco Mazzei. Favuzzi worked there as Mazzei’s sous chef and mentee, before moving onto more casual sister site L’Anima Cafe, which also closed its doors a few months later.