Londoncooking.co.uk

Sometimes London throws things at you you never expect: who’d've thunk there’d be a chilled out, friendly, affordable and down to earth restaurant and basement wine bar just seconds from the gigantic brick and neon cowpat that is Leicester Square? Welcome to Val Taro!

Map of Val Taro bar and restaurant, Leicester Square.

Enter via the side entrance, go straight through the door at the end of the corridor, and down the stairs is the bar.

We went on a Friday night, and got a table without a problem. A great selection of Italian wines, and complementary nibbles (ah – remember the days of the complementary nibbles?) The pizza (N.Italian?) is thick and bready, though fresh, and the pasta looks pretty hearty too. The food is quite bizarre… make sure you ask for ‘al dente’ if you’re ordering pasta.

Beloved of people who work in Theatreland (ie – acting/drama types, but try not to let that put you off) Val Taro is an absolute gem, and it’s amazing somewhere like this can exist within spitting distance of the commercial hotchpotch that is the ‘Square.