San Lorenzo

Oh my God, the prawns. THE PRAWNS.
I wasn’t overwhelmed when we first arrived in this restaurant as the decour is very understated, and I hate a laminated menu. My first impression was completely wrong though, and this is now one of my favourite restaurants in Wimbledon.
We shared a starter of calamari and they very kindly served it to us on 2 separate plates. The portions were massive and the calamari was delicious — very crispy batter and not at all stringy.
Then my main arrived — I was apprehensive about it as at £24 it made me wonder whether it would be worth the money. The prawns were absolute MONSTERS and cooked to perfection, which easily justified the price in my eyes! Served with brown rice in a wine and garlic sauce, it really was something special. My other half loved his meaty chilli pizza, and we left with very happy bellies.

We went to San Lorenzo for dinner, hoping to be seated outside as it was a warm afternoon/​early evening, but to our disappointment they did not serve in the garden which was advertised as a beautiful summer courtyard. Nethertheless we stayed as long as the menu looked pretty good.

We had gnocchi and bresaola alla valtellina for starters to share. Gnocchi was delicious, and worked perfectly as an appetizer given the fact we felt there was not enough of it by the time we finished.
For the main dish I went for wholegrain risotto al funghi marked as a new or seasonal dish which was very good. For dessert we shared a tiramisu, always a nice way to finish the dinner.
All in all I really enjoyed the food, but thought that the service could have been better.

Love both this one and the one in London; the one in London has the nice garden and a great location near favorite shops. This is lovely, too. Whomever says England has bad food doesn’t know what they’re talking about, and this place has been around for decades!

Three stars because although this restaurant had great service and good food, which I cannot discredit, it was nothing special. Yes, my seabass dish was cooked well and the wines were lovely, but it was nothing spectacular as the ambiance and price exuded.
Perhaps I will go back and try San Lorenzo in the future, but I felt no lasting impression of the food that makes me want to return.

Great food and service. The place to be in Wimbledon Village. Possibility to eat in the garden. Love it and will be back.

Came here with friends to celebrate a pal’s birthday party. We went away happy and full satisfied. A great meal restaurant.

Most will concede that Italians have a natural propensity to talk. That said, when it comes to describing their love for their cuisine their quest for perfection, their passion for local producers and ingredients, their respect for family traditions and culinary secrets the dictionary doesn’t seem to contain the right words, or enough of them, to truly express their feelings anymore and even the most loquacious among them is reduced to humble awe.
San Lorenzo
Ask Ghigo Berni, co-​owner of San Lorenzo Fuoriporta in Wimbledon, to describe Italian cuisine and, within two hours, you’ll believe that only now will you be able to enjoy a plate of pasta as it should be.
Ghigo grew up in his parent’s well-​established Knightsbridge trattoria, San Lorenzo, walking in the shadows of the ’60’s cinema stars, refugees of the infamous Cinecittà strike. However, this world of wonders and celebrity didn’t make the boy forget his first passion for food, though, and when he moved to Wimbledon to open the South Western cousin of San Lorenzo (Fuoriporta meaning outside the walls), he made a point to always look for what he calls: the perfection of simplicity.
This simplicity comes from necessity and poverty. When peasants had the chance to enjoy a piece of meat, they wanted to make the most of it; a dish that would bring out all the flavours. All the basic ingredients used in Italian cuisine garlic, oil, rice, tomatoes, mushrooms come from the ground, the earth. They carry with them a spirit and every Italian dish is elaborated to celebrate what nature gives us.
The starters were an apt introduction to that idea of simplicity. The Bufala, avocado e pomodoro Buffalo mozzarella, plum tomatoes and avocado was the essence of Italian cuisine itself: fresh and tasty ingredients, a pinch of black pepper and salt with just a drop of seasoning. By mixing the three, this light dish was the perfect preamble to Italian cuisine in national colours.
The Melanzane Alla Fuoriporta was intense; the grilled aubergines melted in the mouth with the buffalo mozzarella, while the Parma added a salty overtone, even though it could be enjoyed just as well with the delicious homemade Foccacia bread served on the table.
The Polenta taragno con calamari is spring dish celebrating the natural combination of calamari and peas. Although it looked quite heavy, the polenta with buckwheat was actually quite light. The texture was enhanced by the tender braised calamari, tomato sauce and green peas.
We soon moved on to the definition of food and how what used to be a primary need became a way of life. Food is comfort, memory, emotion, history, culture. Food has always been at the centre of discussion, a component of a relationship that brings people together. Things seemed to have changed with the generations, though. Now cuisine has become a cult, an elitist thing, a sign of sophistication. People discover food with culture and emancipation.
The conversation lead to interesting redefinitions, and metaphors: Food is following the same evolution as music. Like classical musicians, looking for the original perfection of a piece of music, people usually start cooking classical, practicing to achieve that same perfection they first tasted. But very quickly, they want to add their own touch, to create something new. Experimentation is important but it can become too confusing. It is important to go back to where we come from and where the food comes from. As the French in Indochina, they tried to create something that will reflect their national identity while using local ingredients. And that’s how the whole French Asian trend started.
We returned to true Italian dishes for the main course, though; traditional risotto, fish and meat which Ghigo described with love and passion.
The Gamberoni alla Fuoriporta grilled Indian Ocean king prawns with wholegrain risotto. Having grown up in seawater, the prawns are juicy and generous in taste. Fried with a drop of oil and lemon before being placed under a grill, the prawns are placed on wholegrain risotto and served with a delicate sauce of stock, white wine and garlic. The dish was properly balanced between the rice and the copious amount of king prawns, avoiding any frustration in terms of quantity.
The Salsiccia piccante con Lenticchie Spicy sausages grilled and braised with Italian lentils, garlic and white wine, served on mashed potatoes was a first experience of Italian lentils. The dish was rich with flavours and yet not too spicy. The lentils were first cooked with garlic, rosemary, stock and olive oil, while the sausages grilled with pork fat, salt, chilli, garlic and wine. Once done, the sausages were braised with the lentils and then topped with olive oil before serving onto the mashed potatoes. The sausages were delicious, spicy and not too greasy. The lentils had absorbed the grease of the sausages, infusing the lentils with a nice spicy taste. A simple and

This place was highly recommnded but I had a poor experience, food not great for the price and was sat upstairs which has a different atmosphere. Tried it again and whilst the atmosphere was better downstairs the food still average and te service a little cold. Not going back as Al Forno is good for simple fun an inexpensive Italian and the Piccolono’s in the village is supeb if you want the top Italian food.

I have been to San Lorenzo’s a couple of times. Usually they are for family birthdays, or a very special occasion, so I get a chance to save my pennies up. There is a lot of hype about this place, some not so great. One view is that it is just a celebrity haunt, past its prime, but still a pap paradise for the Eurotrash who walk down the steps.
I personally feel that it is a place that does tasty and authentic Italian food, and this sometimes gets overlooked when diners are craning their necks to see who is at the table behind them. The menu is expensive, but every dish is a good choice. There is a wide selection of meat (such as liver, fillet steak and entrecôte), and fish like tuna, sea bream, and kingfish. While these dishes are a little pricey for me (mains start at £12.00 and go up to £30.00), there is a good choice of pizza, pasta and risotto which is far less expensive. In fact, one of San Lorenzo’s signature dishes is Risotto Al Fungi, and this is only £12.50. It is creamy, soft and the risotto has exactly the right consistency.
Like I said, save your pennies first, but give it a whirl.

An almost out-​of-​town sibling of the wonderful San Lorenzo of Beauchamp Place, which maintains an almost mystical attraction for high society partly due to its refusal to take credit cards, making it necessary to be seriously cashed up — or be well enough known to Mara Berni to write a cheque. Ghigo Berni presides over the Wimbledon restaurant — or I suppose would do if he was there; but on the night we went he was absent and the staff were disappointingly ordinary, trying to give us an ill-​favoured table even though we were well-​dressed and the place was half empty The conservatory which might have been more atmospheric was closed and the rest of the décor is generally somewhat ’70’s trat’.
That aside, the food was excellent: delicious lobster salad, succulent calves’ liver, an exceptional fillet of beef and a mouthwatering mixed grill of fish and shellfish. We finished sharing a beautifully well-​balanced semifreddo al vin santo, the meal all washed down with a decent Pinot Bianco for only £17.50. £170 for four people including service made it a pretty reasonable night out — and they take credit cards!