This charming cucina, glowing behind lace curtains on Forrest Walk, not only knows its marks, it knows how to hit them
You don’t visit Lulu for a while, then you go back and think: ‘surely it’s not as good as I remember?’ The common experience though, somewhere between a plate of hand-rolled orecchiette studded with coins of baby zucchini, and teeny ditalini luxuriating in a buttery saffron emulsion mimicking risotto alla Milanese, is then realising that it’s even better. It’s there in the way the sweet nubs of north-west king prawns slip inside the curves of the orecchiette, in the salt crystals hidden deep within the slices of Parmigianio-Reggiano scattered over the surface of the ditalini. This is comfort food, ramped right up. Not convinced? Try the meatballs, a nod to proprietor Joel Valvasori’s nonna’s recipe, loosely bound over a bowl of perfect polenta. But then chef James Higgs keeps the technique as sharp as a knife, too, slicing celery hearts to spread over precision-cured kingfish finished with a crack of pepper. Valvasori works the floor, but all the staff are on the ball, ripe with recommendations, and excited about a wine list that builds out from Friuli-Venezia Giulia but doesn’t forget locals. Finish with tiramisu ‘corrected’ with a slug of grappa, or make for next door, where sister wine bar Cantina is ready and waiting with a nightcap.
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