Osteria Vibrato

Osteria Vibrato opened in February 2026 in Soho by Charlie Mellor, who had formerly opened The Laughing Heart in Hackney. The restaurant name (a musical term meaning adding resonance to sound) is due to the owner having once been an opera singer. The head chef here was Louis Lingwood, who used to work at nearby Quo Vadis. The restaurants seats up to 51 people at any one time, and tables are closely packed together in the limited space. The menu was a la carte. 

There was a lengthy wine list, reflecting the proprietor’s background as a sommelier, which he turned to after his singing career. The wine list had 535 labels, pretty much entirely from Italy and France. It ranged in price from £42 to £800, with a median price of £152 and an average markup to retail price of 2.6 times, which is very fair. Sample references were Longarico Nostrale Sicilia 2023 at £56 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £26, Cristiano Guttarolo Lamie della Vigne 2024 at £64 compared to its retail price of £26, and La Biancara Passito Monte Sorio 2018at £96 for a wine that will set you back £42 in the high street. For those with the means there was Château de Béru Chablis Clos Béru Monopole 2019 at £219 compared to its retail price of £119, and Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Branella 2020 at £227 for a wine whose current market value is £120. There were even a few wines below their current retail price, if you dig deeply into the list.

An initial snack was a cracker (“mother in law’s tongue”) made in house and with pleasant texture, along with Taggiasca olives from Liguria. Asparagus (£16) was carefully cooked and had nice flavour (14/20). Pici pasta (£22) from Tuscany was flavoured with olive oil, garlic, chilli and breadcrumbs. The pasta texture was excellent and the flavour balance was good (14/20).

Grilled tranche of turbot (£44) was from a modestly sized specimen but was carefully cooked and had nice flavour. This came with a pleasant white wine sauce made using Cantina Giardino wine from Campania (14/20). Roast potatoes (£9) were quite crispy as they should be. I was less taken with the texture of a side dish of beans, but this apparently is the house style.

White risotto (£28) was made to order. This was made using Risobuono Gran Riserva carnaroli rice from Piedmont that is aged 12 months. This is a high-quality rice, and the stock was also excellent, resulting in a genuinely lovely risotto. It is remarkable how much risotto varies in standard in London, but this was high class (15/20).

Sour cherry tart (£12) tasted more of ricotta than frangipane, and the pastry was a tad less firm than ideal, but this was still very pleasant to eat (13/20). Chocolate sorbet (£6) had good texture and quite deep chocolate flavour (14/20). Amaretti biscuits (£12) were served hot and had lovely flavour as well as excellent texture. These amaretti were a revelation (15/20).

Coffee was from Mission Coffee Works from Peckham, and was quite good. Service was very friendly and capable throughout the meal, despite the packed dining room. The bill came to £166 each with cocktails and a nice bottle of wine (the Tuscan Fabbrica Colline Lucchesi Rosso Riserva 2019 at £120 for a wine that retails at £82). If you shared a modest bottle of wine then your bill might come to around £130 or so. Osteria Vibrato does a lot of things right, with capable cooking, an interesting an appealing wine list and friendly service. No wonder it is so busy.