Casacosta takes its name from the online shop Costa established during the first lockdown, which sells much of the same produce as Costa’s five-strong London steak restaurant group.
On North End Road, the venue is described as a quintessential Italian kitchen, larder and butcher with shelves lined with fresh vegetables and fruit, cheeses and charcuterie, breads and cakes as well as pantry items and a wide selection of Italian wines and beers.
Hidden behind a ‘secret’ entrance inside the shop, the restaurant will serve a concise menu that ‘celebrates the home-cooked meals served on dinner tables throughout Italy using the very best ingredients’.
Plates of antipasti feature charcuterie and freshly baked focaccia alongside burrata and stracciatella cheeses.
Primi follow with dishes including pasta from aglio, olio and habanero (creamy garlic sauce topped with toasted habanero breadcrumbs), tortellini in brodo (freshly made tortellini in chicken broth, crispy chicken skin and Parmesan), and lasagne.
Secondi will include dishes of polpette di fassona (meatballs made of Fassona beef in passata), a vegetarian burger, and merluzzo alla Palermitana ( pan-fried cod with capers, anchovies and onion served with tomato sauce).
Sweet include tiramisu, brioche and gelato, tartelleta di pere (cocoa pastry, caramelised pears, sweet ricotta and chocolate marzipan), and pan di Spagna al caffe (coffee sponge with gianduia cream and chocolate).
Costa is known for injecting theatre into his restaurants, and Casacosta will be no different. The steak tartare will be made at the table, giving diners the chance to choose the ingredients that will go into their own dish.
Meanwhile, the restaurant’s spaghetti al pomodoro will be served at the table with the waiter ‘pouring the sauce on top of the dish in front of diners to resemble the Vesuvius volcano’.
Modelled on Costa's own living room to create a home away from home for his guests, the restaurant itself will have a cosy and intimate atmosphere with dark blue walls decorated with art prints.
Costa brought Macellaio RC to London in 2012 and currently operates sites in South Kensington, Exmouth Market, Fitzrovia, Southwark and Battersea.