Restaurant Review: Norma, London

Norma is a contemporary and vibrant restaurant, inspired by the food and culture of Sicily with particular emphasis on the Moorish influences of the Island's cuisine.

Norma is the kind of effortless crowd-pleaser that takes serious work. It occupies a narrow townhouse on Charlotte Street, just north of Oxford Street, so that each floor’s dining room has about it the classy glow of a vintage train’s dining car.

At the front is a raw bar, the ice stacked with smooth-shelled clams and red prawns, curled up against each other.

There are booths upholstered in amber plush and deco-style glass panels. The floor and walls are tiled in a Moorish pattern of interlocking points. All about is a downlit glow. It has a sense of intimacy.

Norma is no one’s version of cheap but it’s worth every penny. A recent lunch began with a round of greaseless spaghettini fritters lavished with grated cheese and a ramekin of creamy parmesan sauce, both refined and deeply comforting like the best cicchetti.

Even better was a large saffron arancino with superlatively al dente risotto snuggling a core of ragù made with fennel sausage, finally capped with a dollop of roasted garlic aioli. Italian bar snacks at their absolute finest.

From the menu’s pasta section, pasta alla Norma is the restaurant’s signature – the classic Sicilian dish from which the restaurant takes its name. Ben Tish’s take on the dish features a rich sauce of aubergine, ripe tomato, and basil clinging to al dente tubes of rigatoni, dusted with ricotta salata. We ordered the ziti lunghi, a gorgeous ragù of rose veal, unusually enlivened by the faintest whisper of coriander, and topped with a blizzard of sharp pecorino.

To finish, homemade cannoli were well structured and piped with sweet ricotta, bookended with candied orange.