Italian restaurants are always in vogue. Giulia Crouch explores the worldwide spread and asks leading London chefs about the obsession

Ask a Brit what their favourite food is, and they’ll probably say pizza or pasta. Poll after poll puts Italian cuisine first in Britain’s list of preferences: a 2022 YouGov study found it was the UK’s top choice, above Chinese, British and our thoroughly beloved Indian.

This is nothing new – nor is it confined to the UK – but that enthusiasm is evident everywhere you look in Britain: supermarket aisles filled with ready-made ravioli; the proliferation of Neapolitan pizzerias extending far beyond the capital; countless books and TV programmes on the bel paese; and a restaurant scene showing no sign of moving on from Italian gastronomy.

Buzzy, booked up and hyped since opening in 2021, Manteca in east London has had a non-stop stream of diners enticed by its brown crab cacio e pepe. Fellow east London establishment Brutto also opened in 2021, and customers quickly flocked to try Florentine specialities like coccoli – pillowy, golden deep-fried dough balls torn in half to hug creamy, cooling stracchino cheese and salty prosciutto crudo.

Their way was paved long before. The now-iconic River Café opened back in 1987, won a Michelin star (which it has retained ever since) in 1998, and it attracts an upmarket crowd who lap up the restaurant’s charming Tuscan aesthetic. Before that, Italian trattorie, delis, sandwich shops and cafés spanned the country.

In Europe and countries further afield, such as the United States, Australia and Japan, the love affair with Italian cuisine is just as strong, meaning almost anywhere you go you can eat quality Italian food. One of the best Neapolitan pizzas I’ve had (my grandmother was from Campania, so I’ve eaten a lot) was at a small pizzeria called Jana Napoletana in Pristina, Kosovo.

Trends come and go, but Italian restaurants are always in fashion. So, what’s behind this enduring and global appeal?