{"id":817,"date":"2016-09-12T16:01:45","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T15:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp\/?p=817"},"modified":"2026-02-06T17:16:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:16:31","slug":"donna-margherita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/donna-margherita\/","title":{"rendered":"Donna Margherita, Lavender Hill – restaurant review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Donna This classic Italian restaurant is on Lavender Hill. The street\u2019s name comes from the lavender that was once grown in market gardens around here. After the opening of Clapham Junction station just up the road in 1863 the surrounding area was built up with terraces of cheap housing for the workers who moved there from the East End.\u00a0 Lavender Hill was their shopping street – although likely without restaurants in those days.<\/span><\/p>\n

Donna Margherita is an Italian restaurant and wood-fired pizzeria, and it launched my restaurant reviewing career a few years back. This was one of my first review visits and I was taken by its intimate ambiance as well as its authentic Italian food. But would it be a case of \u2018you can never go back\u2019?<\/p>\n

They have changed the interior somewhat but it\u2019s still just as cosy, with a nod towards the Continent. Shelves are stacked with bottles of wine as well as speciality Italian food products such as pasta, oils, vinegars and preserves. These goods are not just stage-settings \u2013 one can buy them. The tables were filled (and it was a Monday night) with locals and Italians who all seemed to be regulars. They know about Italian food and they all seemed happy with their dishes, so I feel no shame in saying I enjoyed mine too!<\/p>\n

\"DonnaGrandmother\u2019s cooking<\/h4>\n

Gabriele Vitale, owner and Head Chef of Donna Margherita, is passionate and animated about his home city of Naples and its cuisine. He entered Italian catering college at the tender age of 14 so he has had a good grounding in the Italian culinary arts. Dishes here have the air of home-made, reminiscent of grandmother\u2019s cooking (well, if your grandmother was Italian). They epitomise all the things that made good Italian food popular in the first place.<\/p>\n

We started with a most acceptable bottle of house wine and Bruschetta of fresh tomatoes as we scanned the menu for well-remembered items like the pizza, which is remarkable \u2013 and there\u2019s no mistaking that it\u2019s from a wood-fired oven. Then we enjoyed a bubbling dish of A\u2019 Parmigian E Mulgnan – Baked fried aubergines with tomato sauce, basil, mozzarella and parmesan. It\u2019s a standard and a great alternative if you are looking for all the tastes of a classic Italian dish but without the pasta. First I would ask why not pasta, and then I would promise that this aubergine dish will hit the spot. Rustic and comforting.<\/p>\n

\"Donna
\nBread for mopping the bowl<\/h4>\n

O\u2019scialatiell Ro` Re Ferdinando was our striking main course. Homemade pasta with prawns, langoustines, squid, clams, mussels, tomatoes, and a good dash of chilli – It\u2019s a signature dish here. The pasta was unique, with a distinctive al dente bite which is quite pronounced. This is a chewy pasta and apparently correct for the Naples region. The pasta becomes more important to the dish, contrasting the too-soft spaghetti often encountered in Italian restaurants. It is different but very much to my taste \u2013 or should I say texture? Have some bread on hand for mopping the bowl \u2013 always more refined than licking the plate, which would be the alternative. You won\u2019t want to miss a drop of this sauce.<\/p>\n

Donna Margherita has become an icon. I doubt it has anything to do with my first review, which was glowing, but I was only a fledging scribe with a small audience. No, it\u2019s likely more to do with consistent quality, friendly service and great location. Good to see they are still in there, pitching for authentic and delicious Italian food. Yes, I can go back!<\/p>\n

\"Donna Donna Margherita
\n183 Lavender Hill
\nBattersea
\nLondon
\nSW11 5TE<\/p>\n

Opening Times
\nMonday to Thursday: 18.00 to 22.30
\nFriday: 12.30 to 23.00
\nSaturday: 12.30 to 23.00
\nSunday: 12.00 to 22.30<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Restaurant review by Chrissie Walker \u00a9 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This classic Italian restaurant is on Lavender Hill. The street\u2019s name comes from the lavender that was once grown in market gardens around here. After the opening of Clapham Junction […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,7],"tags":[1860,93,220,8,221,222,211],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-european","category-restaurants","tag-donna-margherita","tag-italian","tag-lavender-hill","tag-london","tag-pasta","tag-pizza","tag-seafood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24940,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions\/24940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}