Princi

biancalabufala

AMAZING 3rd March 2009

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This place is just AMAZING...................

lektrogirl

PRINCI 20th January 2009

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As always one to look for another place to get a soya latte and something not to greedy to eat, it was with great delight I saw Princi opening on Wardour Street and took the earliest opportunity to check out and see if I could add it to my list of favourite coffee spots.

The first time I went in I just got some take away milk bread little buns - who could argue at .30p each. Then I went back and bought some more to share with the office and all the girls couldn't believe that the little treats were so cheap. They thought I was joking. What has turned out to be my favourite little guilty pleasure is the small apple cakes - 3 for £1: a bit soft, with real apple pieces and not too sweet. You almost feel healthy eating them.

I have also sat in with a friend and her 6 year old son who was feeling poorly and got sent home from school but he was soon rosy cheeked sitting at one of the long communal benches stuffing himself with anything we put in front of him. All the food my friend and I tried was good [gnocchi, bread salad, more cakes] and great value for money. The service however, has always been slow, languid to practically horizontal. I think it helps if you are Italian and the service staff know it and I also think a lot of the staff don't really know how to use the tills properly. But the staff are friendly enough and didn't seem to mind a nutty kids running all over the place wanting to check out how deep the fountain is and climbing over the furniture.

I have to say I am disappointed with the coffee. They soya milk they use is the brand that I think tastes like mildew and I just don't like it. The coffee was also scalding hot - I prefer to be able to be drink my latte immediately. My friend who had the coffee with regular milk said that her coffee was great. So if you do dairy, you should be fine!

Every time I have been in except for early morning, the place has been packed and near impossible to get a seat. But everyone looks like they are having a good time and it is rowdy in a cosy way with the communal tables. I think it is a great place to get take away [and whenever I walk past it is nearly impossible to resist the apple cakes] but I don't have the patience to wait for a space to sit down.

A lovely addition to Soho, despite the couple of snags. Some people are just going to love it.

OH and P.S. Really nice toilets!

intoxicating

Style Crunch, Style Crunch... 9th December 2008

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‘Yogi Bear ordered a pizza. The waitress asked, “How many pieces do you want your pie cut into?” Yogi responded, “Four. I don't think I could eat eight…”

‘Princi’ represents a hefty investment in cheap food. £5 million surged into its design and build. A further £1m was taken in rent, securing the site for at least two years. The minds behind are Alan Yau OBE and Rocco Princi. Yau established everyman Asian eateries ‘Wagamama’, ‘Busaba Eathai’ and ‘Cha Cha Moon’ as well as the Michelin starred ‘Hakkasan’, ‘Yauatcha’ and inclined ‘Sake No Hana’. I was recently nipped by another former Hongkonger for concentrating too closely on Italian and French cuisine. Whilst I am guilty as charged, I cannot redress such an unintended bias here. Despite Yau’s form, excepting Danish coffee, Princi is profoundly Italian. Its co-star is Rocco Princi, ‘the Armani of bread’.

The action occurs in a substantial cube lined in travertine. A 19-metre (lucky I was carrying a tape measure) trough of filtered water (not intended as potable) flows like an infinity pool along one side, agreeably splattering those pitched against it. It is intended to represent the h20 used in the pizza making process and is replenished daily. Two counters filled with lustrous treats are glass-topped and tailed in rough-hewn rock. Classical music is curiously sedate and somehow ominous when combined with the trickling water. The architect, who already works with Princi in Milan is Claudio Silvestrin who notably created the immaculate vision that is ‘L’Anima’ in the city. I keep intending to visit the latter although unlike Princi’s symbolic gully, my wallet appears to have developed a leak of late...

Before Yau, most Brits would rather have died than dined right next to a stranger. For many he is famous (or infamous) for forcing us to ‘knees-up Wagamama Brown’ and Princi is no exception. The public are yet again encouraged to surrender their liberties along long, albeit rather beautiful benches. Considering the perma-bustle, you would be lucky to get that far. If you do, I guarantee, like the sofa watchers in Starbucks, those standing nearby will be marking your space: estimating your departure.

The idea is to order from the counters, then pay at the till. This is no conventional, Anglo-organised buffet, however: it requires a little pre-thought (and ideally teamwork). I recommend tackling it as a trio. One soul should capture a table (or part of it) whilst another selects savouries, with the third given the serious job of bringing home the beverages. We chose four slices of freshly baked pizza, fashioned from organic flour and sprung like focaccia. I also pointed out an ambitious aubergine salad, which turned out to be bad judgment. I took care of a slightly dilute Bellini from a list light in wines, but heady in cocktails.

The various pizzas, topped in an eiderdown of moist cheese must have been very good (particularly the one with cross sections of courgette) because I trespassed into three of the four portions. The tough aubergine doused in minty yoghurt and baked pumpkin seeds made for a distracting dish, however. To follow, passion fruit cheesecake was a lusciously messy, tangy heap, whilst the fruits of the forest version was riddled with astringency.

A malty macchiato, marked with a shamrock, was surprisingly gentle (I would imagine too vague for most Italians).

Almost all of the beautiful / handsome staff are Italian, not through aggressive gate-keeping but the rules of attraction. This is a similar scenario with the customers (estimated at 40p/c). I understand the draw. It is hard not to like what has happened on Wardour Street, directly opposite Busaba. And if we must mention prices (I am also criticised for not quoting bills – a vulgar practice which occasionally brings back sour memories) the whole deal docked at fewer than £30 (for two). Bear in mind that everything that should be fresh is spankingly so. The ingredients are outstanding, as is the expertise in the enormous engine room below.

Princi’s future looks bright, although it is going to take more than a baker's dozen of £2.50 (£2 take-away) pizza rectangles to repay the rent…

bellaphon

Italian non-connection 29th November 2008

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Another grand Alan Yau venture therefore another must try.

First the good-

1. Amazing location.
2. Wondrous atmosphere.
3. Great crowd.
4. Incredible display of bread, cakes, pizzas, salads and pasta.

Secondly the bad-

1. The slice of Ham and Crescenza pizza tasted bland and quite possibly rendered any of the Domino's offerings positively gourmet.
2. The Raspberry Cheesecake, attractive it may be but lacked synergy between the three components it was supposedly composed of. The raspberry top felt ill at ease with the white cheesy stuff that tasted more like a vapid cottage cheese from a plastic pot than ricotta. Ah well the lemony base was hardly pastry, cookie, or digestive biscuit; erm…it was just wet and soggy. Poor.

Lastly the ugly-

1. Once you’ve ordered and paid for the food and drinks, for the latter you’ll need to hop over to the beverage and drinks section. This is when your hot and warm savouries start to cool down rapidly as you find yourself waiting for your cappuccino or tea. This delay is unnecessary and besides the coffee was so-so.

OK, it may be early days but surely it’s no excuse. The Italians define pizzas and coffee, sadly there’s very little evidence here. I can see myself coming back just for the ambience alone and it’s also perfect for hanging out with friends. But then I can also see this is slowly but surely turning into another (yawn) Le Pain Quotidien wannabe.