Osteria Tufo

Secret gem in Finsbury Park
We had the most beautiful dinner tonight. Service was brilliant, smiley and made to feel special. We had the melted pecorino, mussels and fish polpette to start with garlic bread and olives. Followed
By whole sea bass, monkfish and fresh pasta. Paula the owner is charming and made us feel very welcome. Delightful high ceilings and cosy ambience. Good value and great portion sizes with brilliant taste. A hidden treasure in London!

It is so nice to find such an authentic neighborhood restaurant where the owner waits on you and just wants you to enjoy good food and a good experience. Paola is a great hostess.
Her wine suggestion is from where she is from. She said she doesn’t drink much, but knows it is a good wine and thus wants to serve it. Love. And for 20 GBP a bottle it is a find.
Great burrata, lovely pasta, good steak. Food was all very good.
I love the space – it’s just simple but welcoming.

I really don’t have enough adjectives to describe how much we enjoyed our meal at Osteria Tufo. This is my new favourite restaurant in the area, and hands down the best Italian I think. The menu is short and every single dish looked delicious. I went with the spinach ravioli, which was really good, with wonderful fresh flavours. The service was a little slow — but they were super busy, and the staff were all lovely so it was no issue at all.

This place is just wonderful. It’s a really lovely room to sit in — airy and bright. The menu is sorry but all delicious — check out the home made carpaccio and pork tagliatelle. And the staff are lovely — Paola, the owner is brilliant.
Two thumbs up!

Probably one of the best Italian restaurants in London I have been to thus far. I really enjoyed sea food tagliolini and the tiramisu was really authentic. The staff was very nice and the restaurant was clean. I enjoyed the small cozy atmosphere.

Wonderful place, incredibly hospitable. Warm and attentive staff made us feel really welcome which does wonders for a new business, little service hiccups were quickly and efficiently dealt with by the proprietor which were easily forgiven due to how busy (a good sign) they were. Whilst we were wondering what seasonal and locality produced/​caught delights to have, our off the menu order of Negronis were tactfully suggested to be exchanged for aperol spritzers due to out of stock ingredients, again charmed and efficiently made these were actually better suited to the balmy summers evening and complimented our food and wine choices perfectly with fruity plump green olives. So I had the sea bass– perfectly cooked, skin delightfully crispy with tangy Smokey artichoke on the side singing home the umami flavours. My dining companion’s wood pigeon was also apparently melt in the mouth too, I’d have tried it but it was inhaled before you could say Bön ape… To finish off, I’d usually say no to a dessert or Ahh-​fogato bout it, but with pistachio ice cream on the menu and good coffee served, naturally I ordered one of my all time favourites an affogato with an exciting nutty naughtily creamy lurid green scoop of their best. Truly satisfied and pleasantly full. I’m awaiting a tweet the moment they have some octopus on the menu and I’ll be back fasta than you can cook pasta. At present they’re only open for dinner service, I wish them every success but if lunch was available I’d be in danger.
I couldn’t wait to go back. Osteria tuffo yet again was a joyful dining experience, Paduan-​Japanese precision cheffing producing delicious delicately seared duck breast with a punchy unctuous velvety Gorgonzola dressing that didn’t overdress.
I had a Tagliolini du frutti de mare. Simple clean flavours and fine textured seafood tumbled in rich egg pasta with plenty of bite.
Go for the Gavi di Gavi. Again a thoughtful choice placed on the list by the passionate proprietor, noticeably fresh lime blossom notes and bitter sweet almond kernel flavours which escorted us suggestively through to dessert. Not quite a Brûlée, but I just nodded confidently at the words: dessert. Something something… suggested from the friendly waiter. A layered red berry coulis chantily cream concoction arrived. Beautiful. Tart and a little Naughty, shared of course. Left happy again.
Osteria Tuffo seem to gladly provide late night dining great for post show Park theatre patrons. Also great if you want to avoid the rowdy Stroud Green if you’re after dining Al Fresco.
@GraceDent. If you’re out there. I want your job. Lol. Hahahaaa. Seriously. I do. But Grace, please give this place a try. I love seeing places I like in your column. I’m sure you’ll love it!

Brilliant new Italian restaurant. Possibly the best in the neighborhood. The waitress here was a charming, everything-you’d-hope-for-in-an-Italian-lady Italian lady. There’s a light, breezy casual ambience to the place. The menu had quite the array of options, covering seafood, meat and pasta. The porchetta starter was to scream for, and the tagliolini ai frutti de mare was perfect. A friend got a steak that looked downright tantalizing. Get me started talking about the desserts: my panna cotta, but the friend got a Tiramisu that looked scandalous. Prices are not too bad!