Brutto.

Brutto

Russell Norman opened this in September 2021 and died in November 2023, and the diners' survey says his widow Jules and son Ollie are doing full justice to his legacy (Harden's).

Why go

Norman built Polpo and then spent his last project on one narrow idea: the Florentine trattoria, done straight. He told Harden's the food comes from the heart of Italy, where flavour is more important than favour.1 The Michelin guide agreed with the economics and gave it a Bib Gourmand in the 2022 edition, announced on 11 February that year alongside fifteen others (The Caterer).

The dish that explains the room is coccoli, which means cuddles: deep-fried dough balls you split and stuff with soft cheese and prosciutto. The bistecca alla Fiorentina is the menu's centrepiece. What diners actually keep naming, though, is the rabbit pappardelle, which three separate survey reports pull out including one from somebody who did not much like the rest of the meal.

The Negroni costs five pounds. Bread is free. Service is 12.5 percent and wine starts at thirty. That combination in Clerkenwell is why it is hard to get a table, and one surveyor puts it plainly: "It's hard to get a table, but with Negronis at GBP 5... who is surprised?"

Order this / avoid

• Order: coccoli first. The rabbit pappardelle. A bistecca alla Fiorentina if there are two of you. Anchovy on sourdough while you decide. Tiramisu, which even the lukewarm reports call amazing. And the Negroni, obviously.
• Avoid: going in expecting the cooking to astonish you, since its own regulars say it does not. A quiet conversation, because the room is dark and the music is loud. Monday lunch, when the kitchen only opens for dinner.

What locals & experts say

• Harden's diner survey, current edition: Beautiful, 'ugly' food just as Norman wanted. The room is noisy, intimate, dark, sexy, fab and combines memorable Tuscan fare and vibe all in one go, all at an incredibly approachable price considering. Its Top Tips: The GBP 5 Negronis are just as amazing as advertised as well as the penne vodka and sausages, and No matter how many times you eat it, the rabbit pasta is delicious.1
• The same survey on the handover: Shocking news when Russell Norman died in November 2023. His legacy remains this buzzy, brilliant Italian trattoria in the City of London that was his homage to hearty Tuscan food and which is now run by his widow Jules and son Ollie.1
• And the dissent, from the same source: Perhaps it's a bit too cramped for comfort and there's loud, thumpy music, and on the plate, The food is not stellar, but fine-to-good. An earlier edition is blunter: the only weaker reviews come from those expecting more culinary fireworks, given that the food is good, but not great.1
• A diner who was not convinced, in full, because it is the most specific thing anyone has written about the place: Lunch was busy and quite noisy. First impression is plunging into a dark place with candles even at midday. Tables very close. Waiters too busy to give decent service. Food was OK, one great dish was the rabbit papardelle. Anchovy on toast was nice enough but not actual 'cooking'... Rest was forgettable really. Despite relatively pricey wine overall bill was modest.1
• No industry vote. None of the 589 London picks in our chef-vote file names Brutto.

Good to know

• Where: 35-37 Greenhill Rents EC1M 6BN, off Cowcross Street near Smithfield. Farringdon.
• Timing: Monday is dinner only, 5.30pm to 10pm. From Tuesday there is lunch 12pm to 2.45pm as well as dinner.
• Booking: essential. Surveyors say the table is the hard part.
• Costs to know: service 12.5 percent, bread free, wine from GBP 30 a bottle, filter coffee GBP 4, and the Negroni at GBP 5.
• Michelin: Bib Gourmand, awarded new in the Great Britain and Ireland 2022 guide. Whether it is still held in the 2026 edition was not checked in this pass, so read the 2022 date as what is proven rather than as what is current.
• Hygiene: FSA rating 4, Islington, inspected 24 March 2026, FHRSID 1418981. Components read hygiene 0, structural 10, confidence in management 0, where lower is better, so the food handling and the management scored perfectly and the whole mark is against the fabric of a cramped basement and ground floor.3
• The name: the FSA and Harden's both file it as Trattoria Brutto. It trades as Brutto.
• No website: brutto.co.uk refuses connections and trattoriabrutto.com does not respond, so this entry carries no site link rather than an aggregator's.

Verdict

should-visit — Worth the detour, and book it. Russell Norman opened this Florentine trattoria off Cowcross Street in September 2021, took a Bib Gourmand in the 2022 Michelin guide, and died in November 2023. His widow Jules and son Ollie run it now, and the diners' survey is unambiguous that the family has held the line: 'Russell Norman's family are doing full justice to his legacy at the genius trattoria he opened near Smithfield Market'. What you go for is coccoli, deep-fried dough balls you stuff with soft cheese and prosciutto, rabbit pappardelle that three separate diners name unprompted, a bistecca alla Fiorentina, and a Negroni that costs five pounds in Clerkenwell. Be clear about what it is not. The room is dark, cramped and loud, and the survey's own verdict on the plate is 'not stellar, but fine-to-good'. It earns the rung on the whole thing working at that price rather than on the cooking alone, which is exactly what a Bib is for.