Locale (Bar, Restaurant)

Please see below a template for a bog-standard review of a bog-standard Italian restaurant in London:

“Just moments from [insert local tube station], this clean, smart and stylish Italian eatery is perfectly located for visitors to [insert local landmark]. With wooden floors, pristine white walls, and an open view kitchen, [insert name of venue] has friendly staff and a casual atmosphere suitable for business dinners, romantic evenings, or a meal out with the kids. My [insert name of starter] was nicely prepared, with just the right amount of garlic/basil [delete as appropriate]. For the main course, my al dente pasta/creamy risotto [delete as appropriate] was delicious if a little salty, while the rocket side-salad was crisp and refreshing. Pizzas with a range of toppings are also available. The tiramisu/panna cotta [delete as appropriate] I had for desert was a gorgeous way to round off a very pleasant evening.”

Locale, opposite County Hall in Waterloo, is one of the myriad of Italian restaurants in London for which such a template could be used. It’s not that there is anything wrong with it – as bland as the pleasantries above are to read, they actually describe a perfectly nice Italian restaurant, which Locale certainly is. However, this is a template review for a template mass-appeal Italian restaurant, of which Locale is one of hundreds round London. All are near tube stations and landmarks (London is full of them), all have wooden floors, white walls, open kitchens, casual child-friendly atmospheres, serve salty risotto, have tiramisu on the menu, etc, etc, etc.

Such a review therefore tells you very little of interest – if you want such blandness, please refer to View London or Time Out (or complete the above template and submit your own review to either publication, it should be right up their street). However, for the more discerning diner – which as someone reading Fluid London, you are – I have striven to isolate the few remarkable aspects of this otherwise unremarkable restaurant.

Firstly, Locale is on great terms with locally-based clientele, offering a 15% discount to neighbourhood residents, the NHS staff at nearby St Thomas’ hospital, and (proving these are business rather than philanthropic concessions) employees of neighbouring petroleum giant Shell. This makes Locale consistently busy at all hours, but not as overrun with tourists as you’d expect of a venue so close to the London Eye and Parliament Square.

Secondly, happy hour from 5-7pm and 8.30-9.30pm offers daily discounts on a cocktail menu that is unusually broad for a restaurant of this type, and (judging from the house Bellini and potent ‘Aphrodisiac’ we sampled) of unusually high quality.

Thirdly, there is a Monday night deal on the range of steaks on offer. At £7.50 each, this represents great value, even if the accompanying peppercorn sauce we sampled had precious little peppercorn, and the complimentary rosemary mash had absolutely no taste of rosemary.

Finally, if you do eat here, start with a bowl of Sicilian olives whilst choosing your meal. They are absolutely superb.

And that’s just about everything worthy of comment here. There are a few interesting variations on the standard Italian menu – scallops with chickpea puree amongst the starters, suckling pig amongst the mains, apple strudel bizarrely amongst the deserts. But otherwise, Locale delivers everything you’d expect from a decent but unspectacular Italian restaurant, and very little more – which, for the thousands of diners who make such venues so ubiquitous, will be absolutely fine.
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