Southeast London Italian Hit Forza Win Is Coming Back, Custardos and All

Former Peckham Italian favourite Forza Win will reemerge from a two-year hiatus by opening in Camberwell. Bash Redford and Michael Lavery’s restaurant is moving to 31 Camberwell Church Street, taking over a space vacant since 2016 with a full remodel to befit its five-course Italian feasts.

The SE15 restaurant closed in summer 2020, as COVID-19 and an intransigent landlord left the duo with nowhere to turn. In the hiatus period, Redford and Lavery’s newer space, Forza Wine, has held court,

Forza Win started life as a fledgling supper club on top of the Truman Brewery, with Redford in partnership with Thom and James Elliott of Pizza Pilgrims. It lasted two weeks before being shut down over planning legislation. It didn’t stop it, with the operation moving to Oval Space in Bethnal Green before settling, with Redford, at The Culpeper on Commercial Street — then The Princess Alice, before alighting on Copeland Park in Peckham.

There, it acquired a reputation for excellent pasta, unfussy, occasionally witty Italian dishes made with care, and the Custardo, a combination of custard and espresso that started as a joke, proved to be pretty tasty, and ended up a cult favourite menu item.

More soon.