All the world’s major cities have more than their fair share of Italian restaurants, and London – with more than 2,000, according to one recent estimate – is no exception. But over the past 36 years Italian food has had a disproportionate influence on the dining scene here, thanks to one restaurant, The River Café, which opened on the banks of the Thames in Hammersmith in 1987, and placed the same importance on wine as it did on food.
It also spawned a whole generation of entrepreneurial young chefs who adopted the philosophy and set up their own restaurants in the River Café mould. Most notably Jamie Oliver, but also including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Sam and Sam Clark, Stevie Parle and Theo Randall.
None of them were Italian, and neither were their River Café mentors Ruth Rogers and the late Rose Gray, two women who were just passionate about
