RestaurantLondon · Trend feature
London restaurants swapping plain white plates for patterned Italian and Spanish ceramics
From Carbone London to Big Mamma's dining rooms, chefs explain why painted majolica and terracotta belong on the table.
White porcelain has long been the polite default of fine dining, a neutral backdrop that lets food stand out. Livingetc's Gilda Bruno finds a growing number of London kitchens turning instead to colour, pattern and texture, and asks the chefs why.
José Pizarro says it always begins with the dish: sometimes white works best, sometimes terracotta or a painted ceramic changes how food feels. He grew up in Spain around mismatched tables and earthenware barro, which he calls honest and practical, and wants that informality in his London restaurants. At Carbone London, the New York red-sauce Italian that opened last year, floral, brightly tinted plates match Ken Fulk's plush red dining room with its golden lights and artworks.
Big Mamma UK takes a homelier line. Executive chef Filippo La Gattuta serves pasta and vegetables on majolica painted by artisans in southern Italy, much of it from family workshops in Umbria; he singles out the Gallo rooster and astrology plates. The group runs Circolo Popolare, Carlotta, Gloria Shoreditch and Barbarella, with Edmondo said to be launching the month after publication.
Mostly an ideas piece rather than a review, but a useful nudge for anyone who notices what their dinner arrives on, and a handy list of where to see it in practice.
Our summary of a story from Livingetc, published 26 October 2026. Read the original
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From Livingetc