Osteria Angelina, London E1: ‘There's a lot to adore' – restaurant review
One undeniable fact about Angelina, which has just opened a second site in Spitalfields, east London, is that in the now mini-group's relatively short existence, they've singlehandedly made the phrase 'Italian-Japanese restaurant' seem a much more normal thing to say. Patently, Angelina Mark 1 over in Dalston was not the first time in culinary history that Milan met Tokyo over the stoves, that miso met pasta, that truffle met sushi, and so on; hungry people have always travelled, merged cuisines and messed about with flavours. Still, the original Angelina's kaiseki-style tasting menu, where chawanmushi (savoury egg custard) is served with datterini tomatoes, and pastas are topped with furikake, was clearly interesting enough to attract the attention of Michelin.
Its new sister, Osteria Angelina, is darkly chic, spacious (handy for group dining) and tucked away down a side road on the Norton Folgate development close to Shoreditch overground station (fans of the Sri Lankan restaurant Kolomba on Kingly Street near Oxford Circus will find a second outpost, Kolomba East, in the same area, and Noisy Oyster, from the people behind Firebird, will soon be joining them). To give credit where its due, Norton Folgate is a refreshingly beautiful restoration project, where spruced-up Edwardian, Georgian and Victorian buildings mix with new-builds to create a little slice of sedate elegance away from the bottomless brunch, Box Park hellscape that is modern Shoreditch. Escape the main drag, hop into Osteria Angelina, sit up at the marble bar in front of the open kitchen and order snacks of pizza nera topped with moromi, a rich fermented soy paste, or a salad of zucchini and shiso leaves with ricotta.
From the number of people eating here just two weeks after it opened, this cultural clash clearly has its fans. What Osteria Angelina's Japanese customers, with their relatively orderly rules of social conduct and deference, make of the place's excessively animated Italian servers, however, is one for the anthropology books. All this, I guess, is smoothed over by the likes of the nori-topped focaccia and the small, sweet mini-loaf of Hokkaido milk bread, the very memory of which has me salivating; that's served with a kumquat reduction – OK, let's call it jam – and a puddle of burnt honey butter.
After the pane and insalate sections, the menu moves on to fritti and crudo. We ordered a plate of hot-as-hell tempura'd courgette flowers stuffed generously with miso ricotta. Crudo is so often a disappointment, but here the bream is cured in kombu and doused in yet more burnt butter, making it rather wickedly appealing. Hamachi sashimi was also very good, and smothered in truffled soy and furikake.
Dinner here could easily be made up purely of a collection of these small plates and some bread to mop up the exquisite oils, but that would mean missing out on the fresh agnolotti and tortellini. The pasta offering changes frequently, but expect the likes of immensely comforting fazzoletti with a rich duck ragu and lotus, crab and sausage-filled agnolotti and whelk risotto with burnt soy butter.
Larger meaty and fishy things, meanwhile, are grilled in front of you on binchō-tan coals behind the bar. Tongue with wasabi, anyone? Or, more simply, some Brixham skate wing or a Blythburgh pork chop? Angus steak comes rare, drenched in miso butter, alongside our side order of NamaYasai greens and an extra portion of tsukemono pickles.
There's a lot to adore about all of this cooking; it's generous, oily, saucy and certainly not to be eaten every day. Every plate we tried swam in some variation on spiced, seasoned, miso-flecked oil that would have been a terrible waste to consign to the dishwasher. How about some more bread and the remnants of that house ponzu? Wait, they're taking away the delicious white balsamic dressing that came with the tempura agretti? No, stop!
In fact, the only thing that left me slightly cold, other than the damned uncomfortable chairs with backrests so far back that you're almost lying down, was the brulee'd black sesame cheesecake with milk ice-cream, which, though visually interesting – dark, gloomy, stodgy – had about it the air of something that had been mass-produced, in much the same way as a Pizza Express cheesecake probably wasn't made by chef's nonna that morning, but rather came out of a packet from the freezer. Next time – and there will be a next time – I'll go for the genmaicha purin and kinako green tea rice pudding.
Osteria Angelina shouldn't work, but it absolutely does. It will also offend purists everywhere, but being upset has never been so delicious.
Osteria Angelina 1 Nicholls & Clarke Yard (off Blossom Street), London E1, 020-4626 6930. Open lunch Tues-Sun, 12.15-2.30pm (noon-3pm Sat & Sun); dinner 5.15-10.30pm (9.30pm Tues, Weds & Sun). From about £50 a head à la carte, plus drinks and service
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Critics loudly declared it wouldn't last, with one commenter suggesting: 'Let's see how long he sticks around if he makes it big.' 16 16 16 Another scoffed: 'I give it three months.' By 2010 they'd welcomed their first child together - daughter Wylda Rae, now 14 - and second daughter Romy followed in January 2012. They married five months later at Babington House in Somerset - a lavish do attended by Beyonce and Elton John - and combined their surnames. They now live down the road in a £1.85m farmhouse in Bruton. Aaron claimed he wasn't nervous about fatherhood as he'd already settled into the role of stepdad to Sam's two daughters - Angelica, now 28, and Jessie Phoenix, now 18 - despite the fact that Angelica was only six years his junior. He's made a point of stating he considers them both his own daughters, affectionately calling Jessie his 'babygirl' in an Instagram caption last year to mark her 18th birthday. Obviously any suggestion he's anything more than a loving stepfather is unfounded - which is why the latest slew of rumours surrounding Aaron and his stepdaughter must have stung. Last December Aaron and Sam were joined by Angelica and Jessie Phoenix on the red carpet for the premiere of his movie Kraven The Hunter. 16 Posing for the cameras, Aaron put his arm around Jessie Phoenix and gave her a reassuring stroke on the back. The candid moment - a fatherly gesture no doubt intended to reassure the camera-shy teenager - was catnip to twisted internet trolls who branded the it 'disgusting', while TikTok lit up with clips of the moment. Wild conspiracy theories of an illicit affair flooded the comments, with one commenter questioning: 'Are they flirting?' and another writing: 'What if being with the grandma is all a show and he's with her daughter?' A third added: 'If I didn't know their story, I would think that was his girlfriend.' Unsurprisingly the couple, nor their children, dignified the ludicrous furore with a response. Their reaction was the same when, two years ago, vicious rumours swirled that Aaron had an affair with his much younger Bullet Train co-star Joey King, 25. In his early 20s, father-of-four Aaron claimed he was just as happy playing a stay-at-home dad as he was leading blockbuster films. His early roles in their relationship included Kick Ass, Savages, Anna Karenina and Godzilla. When Sam won the highly-contested directing gig for Fifty Shades of Grey in 2015, he took time off to man the fort at home. As he later told The Post, 'I much prefer being a parent to working. Doesn't everybody? The best time I have is with my kids, experiencing their growth and their life with them. I think it's important to have time to enjoy that.' As for Sam, she paid tribute to him while promoting the film, saying, "Being in an amazing relationship, having come out of a difficult one, it felt so good [that he stayed at home while she worked]. 'And I feel like that stability has enabled me to get on with doing this momentous project." She then returned the favour, enabling him to star in 2016's Nocturnal Animals to rave reviews and a Golden Globe Award. Paying tribute to his beloved in his speech, he said: "I want to thank my wife for being there with me, supporting me through this. 'Thank you for putting up with me. Jesus, that was not very pleasant in this role, so you're my soulmate and I love you very much… I'm blessed. I have four beautiful daughters: Anjelica, Phoenix, Wylda, and Romy, I love you all very much." Sam has described Aaron as an old soul in a younger man's body, and claims their strong union has come from their ability to ignore the uproar. 16 16 In 2017, she said: 'If I gave a second thought to other people, I would be the unhappiest person, probably still in a miserable marriage. 'People like to talk about [the age gap]. I'm like, 'Yeah, but it works better than my last marriage'. It's lasted longer than a lot of my friends' marriages.' Ironically, months before she and Aaron went public, her ex Jay Jopling was embroiled in his own age-gap romance when he was pictured kissing a then 23-year-old Lily Allen in the Caribbean. The fling fizzled out quickly, but he was never tarnished with the same 'groomer' label as Sam. Power play Speaking in 2023, Amelia Kelley, a trauma-informed therapist, told Business Insider that criticism surrounding the Taylor-Johnsons was blatant misogyny. "When we see an older woman with a younger man, it underscores that the woman isn't as young as we think they should be,' she said. 'That could be uncomfortable for someone to see.' Yet Elizabeth Jeglic, a professor of psychology at John Jay College in New York, argued against the gendered critique, suggesting it was Sam who could have abused her position of power. "The person who is older tends to be a person who has more power or more experience,' she said. 'They often will select individuals who are younger and more inexperienced because they're more vulnerable. And that creates an unequal power dynamic." Aaron's still surprised by the furore and frenzy his age-gap romance stirs up. 16 16 Speaking last year to Rolling Stone, he said, 'What you gotta realise is that what most people were doing in their twenties, I was doing when I was 13. 'You're doing something too quickly for someone else? I don't understand that. What speed are you supposed to enjoy life at? It's bizarre to me." General consensus is that Aaron wasn't seeking a mummy figure because of any maternal hole in his life. He's in fact remained incredibly close to his own mother, Sarah, who accompanied him to film sets throughout his young career, taught him 'how to be a man' and has played an active role in raising her grandchildren. As for his early dating life there's no sign of any prior 'older woman fetish', with previous flings including actresses Georgia Groome, 33, and Alice Connor, 34. Likewise, it doesn't seem like Sam was simply looking for someone to baby or boss around. She may be a bigwig director, but she's just as happy sharing the spotlight with her incredibly successful, increasingly handsome younger husband. Aaron's role in Danny Boyle's latest epic promises to strengthen his position as one of the UK's most successful actors on both sides of the pond - while whispers that he's favourite to play the next James Bond continue. As the couple hit the red carpet this week, now aged 35 and 58 respectively, one cynic wrote, 'son and great-grandma', while another commented, 'She really got her claws in deep, that one.' But refreshingly, many comments now celebrate the pair, with one writing: 'Good on them for proving haters wrong.' Another added: 'Age is just a number when you love each other as this couple obviously do.' It's safe to say they'll never stop courting controversy - as every time they step out together, the public are reminded of how it all began. But over a decade later, the Taylor-Johnsons continue to put two fingers up to their doubters.
