North London Food & Culture

Review: Anima e Cuore

The chef-owners at this low-key Kentish Town Road newcomer have done their time at Michelin-starred West End restaurants. And it shows

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Rosemary baba with taleggio and walnuts. All photos: Stephen Emms/ Kentishtowner

Kentish Town Road has been known to confound expectations. Just ask those incensed locals who jumped to the defence of this deceptive high street after its recent mauling in The Economist.

New arrival Anima e Cuore doesn’t fit any of the lazy received wisdom either. It’s not one of the pound shops we’re told dominate, neither is it a subterranean speakeasy or frothy coffee bar – which also exist if you take time to look.

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Low-key: exterior.
Perhaps that’s why locals have largely considered it simply a useful new ice cream shop (which we raved about here), without investigating the sensational menu on offer for those that look beyond the distracting array of gelatos and sorbets.

Inside is small and long, a counter laden with geometric platters of macarons making it tighter still, while hinting at the fact that this is no yawnsome panini joint.


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We followed through the windowless dining room to the back garden, a narrow oasis, to consider the menu of rustic pastas and house specials.Here’s the surprise: the dishes possess a range of tastes and textures that would suit a terrace just as much as one within earshot of the yappy dogs of Castlehaven Road.

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Melt-in-the-mouth: macarons. Photo: Stephen Emms

The day’s chalked-up starter was a humble carrot soup, but here the vegetable appeared in no less than three guises, the velvety broth studded with carrot gnocchi and topped with crispy carrot strips. Not your average lunchtime chowder.

Meanwhile, a rosemary baba – a muffin-like bread which takes 48-hours to prove, rise and infuse (see main pic, above) – delighted in its parmesan richness, enhanced by a mousse of taleggio with walnuts upon which it came so daintily perched.

Earthy: linguine with ceps
Earthy: linguine with ceps
As regulars sat down to plates of just-made ravioli (al dente pillows of creamy sage and ricotta on this particular lunchtime), we pondered the problematic narrow space, at odds with the ambition and talents of school chum owners Alessandro and Mustapha, who’ve had stints at Michelin-starred joints like Le Gavroche, Cecconi’s and Sketch.

From the shiny signage to reclaimed 80s office furniture, Anima looks like a modern, decent Italian café, complete with above average classics such as the tangy lasagne or a rich, balsamic aubergine parmigiana, served with a touch of overzealous microwaving. Yet swerve the lunchtime staples and the boys will take you almost incongruously deep into Italy’s gastronomic tradition.

Our highlight? A nest of linguine with ceps, rich with satisfying earthiness. While gobbling this down, we also envied the neighbouring table’s veal ragu – firmly on our must-try list. In fact, you’re hard pressed to spend more than £20 on a serious lunch here, if the contradictions don’t phase you.

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Ricotta and marscapone cheesecake
Squeeze in a mascarpone and ricotta cheesecake topped with fig ice cream might – a high end West End-style dessert at half the price – and you’ll need the very potent robusta hit of the Caffe Diemme (supplied by Doppio up the road, naturally) to get you through the afternoon. Oh, and perhaps a macaron or two.

As the name suggests, the chef-owners have poured heart and soul into this place, and while it feels like there is more work to be done on the unyielding café space – particularly with the oncoming winter limiting use of the garden – the ever-changing daily menu is more than worth repeat visits.

129 Kentish Town Road NW1, open daily until around 10pm. Unlicensed. Lunch from a fiver upwards. Most mains are between £5-10

10 thoughts on “Review: Anima e Cuore”

    1. I love the sound of your restaurant, starting with the name. It says open daily till around 10, but it doesn’t say what time does it open, is it open for breakfst, is it open for lunch? With all the best wishes, Mina Semon 🙂

    1. On my first visit they suggested I pop to the grocery shop next door for some wine, but the selection there’s minimal so I’ve taken my own booze with me the last couple of times. (Can’t stop going, it’s so good.) They’re very laid back.

  1. I cannot say how good the food is here. Simply amazing. Selfishly I wanted to keep it a secret so I can always get a table but these guys deserve to be busy and successful.

  2. Food was nice and authentic but at £53 with out drinks or service for 2 of us (starter and main each) I was a little surprised. It still feels like a cafe in terms of decor and lighting which is fine but for that price you’d expect a little more on the ambiance side.

    Although the menu changes daily, which is great for repeat business, it would help to have it on a board so you could remember the complex ingredients and take your time ordering.

    Would visit again but could do with a lunch deal.

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10 thoughts on “Review: Anima e Cuore”

    1. I love the sound of your restaurant, starting with the name. It says open daily till around 10, but it doesn’t say what time does it open, is it open for breakfst, is it open for lunch? With all the best wishes, Mina Semon 🙂

    1. On my first visit they suggested I pop to the grocery shop next door for some wine, but the selection there’s minimal so I’ve taken my own booze with me the last couple of times. (Can’t stop going, it’s so good.) They’re very laid back.

  1. I cannot say how good the food is here. Simply amazing. Selfishly I wanted to keep it a secret so I can always get a table but these guys deserve to be busy and successful.

  2. Food was nice and authentic but at £53 with out drinks or service for 2 of us (starter and main each) I was a little surprised. It still feels like a cafe in terms of decor and lighting which is fine but for that price you’d expect a little more on the ambiance side.

    Although the menu changes daily, which is great for repeat business, it would help to have it on a board so you could remember the complex ingredients and take your time ordering.

    Would visit again but could do with a lunch deal.

Leave a Comment

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The award-winning print and online title Kentishtowner was founded in 2010 and is part of London Belongs To Me, a citywide network of travel guides for locals. For more info on what we write about and why, see our About section.