Bar Italia, Soho

21 Frith Street, Soho
London, W1D 4RN
http://baritaliasoho.co.uk
Bar Italia is something of a coffee icon within London, having stood in the same spot since 1949 and weathered all manner of changes within the city and the industry. It’s taken me years to pluck up the courage and go in because there’s a palpable sense of history oozing from the place that doesn’t quite feel right if you’re not a regular.
The unmistakeable neon give off a sense of a place out of time and the curt, yet not rude, response I get from the gentleman serving me as he is forced to stop conversing in Italian in order to serve me suggests I may struggle to get an oat milk latte as tradition very much seems to be the order of the day. But I try my luck and come out on top, being served with a takeaway cup with no lid, with the next customer being waved forward before I even get the chance to say thank you.
So here’s the thing, I sort of expected a terrible coffee. I felt maybe the place had survived just because of its history and placement but, as the oat milk should have tipped me off, you don’t survive 70-odd years without adapting a little bit over time. The facade is of nostalgia, with Rocky Marciano’s gloves on the walls, and a beautiful, old pull lever espresso machine that is the hub of this retro aesthetic but once unceremoniously out of the queue I found myself sipping on a deliciously rich, creamy and smooth coffee that could compete with anyone in London and I found myself realising just how Bar Italia had become, and remained, an icon of the capital’s coffee scene. A little hint for first timers would also be to take your coffee to the corner of the street where you’ll spot a place selling Portuguese Pasteis De Nata and you can land yourself one of the greatest snack and drink combos the great metropolis has to offer for a little over a fiver. Never have the Europeans worked so well together since the forming of the EU, and it’s Londoners who get to benefit!