EtnaCoffee — Restaurant in London

I’ll start by saying I’m not Sicilian, nor even Italian, so I can’t claim to have the level of insight gained from eating these dishes for a lifetime. But I have eaten my way around Sicily several times, so I can confidently assert that, at least to this outsider’s palate, EtnaCoffee offers as authentic an experience of the island’s rich street food scene as you can hope to find on our rather milder shores.

I first became a repeat customer of this small, family-run business on the strength of their typical Sicilian sweets, but have since come to love many of their savoury offerings as well; not an easy double-act to pull off this well!

Starting with the cannoli, EtnaCoffee’s set the standard for how a classic cannolo should be: a tube of fried pastry with sweetened fresh ricotta piped in only(!) after you order, creating the perfect marriage of light, fluffy dairy filling barely contained by an almost impossibly brittle flaky shell. This together with one of their proper Italian-tasting short coffees is guaranteed to soothe your London blues at any time of day or year.

Their granita, meanwhile, plays protagonist to one of the best summer breakfasts you can find in this city. For the uninitiated, going out to a bar for a granita and a brioscia col tuppo (a brioche-like sweet bun) is mine and probably most Sicilians’ preferred way to start a sweltering hot day. Forget all those brunch concept places your feed is sending you on IG – this is just as photogenic, and much more delicious. EtnaCoffee’s granite stand up to the best I’ve tried in Sicily; the pistachio, nutty and cream but not heavy (much more refreshing than gelato), and the almond almost medicinally marzipan-fragranced. Order the latter with a brioscia and an espresso on the side and your server will likely compliment you on having assembled one of the best flavour combos known to humankind! Just bear in mind that the Bauso brothers hold true to Italian tradition in only offering their frozen confections during the (relatively) warmer months.

But don’t worry, they have plenty of other items on the menu to please your stomach at this chillier time of year. For a start, their cioccolata looks appropriately thick and abundant, though I’ve yet to try it myself…What I can vouch for, though, is the quality of their various piping-hot savoury street foods!

Their arancini are exemplary. Generous with the filling, perfectly crisp, fresh out of the fryer, posso dire di più? A must-try if you’ve never been to Sicily. Meanwhile, a newer addition and immediate favourite on a recent visit are their calzoni fritti! These looks to my untrained eye very much like the panzerotti I’ve had in Puglia, but the dough is slightly thicker and spongier than I’m used to, which I think actually makes for a more satisfying eating experience as you’re essentially biting into a freshly fried, cheese-filled doughnut. An ideal lunch for me is pairing one of these bombe with what I consider the Bauso family’s not-so-secret-secret weapon – the caponata! I’m definitely biased as this is probably one of my favourite dishes in the world, but EtnaCoffee’s is the best I’ve had in the UK and a beautiful sweet-sour-fresh foil to all their devilishly good fried fare.

Venue-wise, the space is more cozy than spacious, and, as some reviews have mentioned, they could do with installing a customer toilet...But I don't think these would be concerns for most going to a bar or tavola calda place in Italy - they're there to eat or drink, have a quick chat and go. The staff are also friendly enough without being obsequious, and it can really feel like Italy in there at times, like when there’s a steady stream of suited customers queuing up for their late-morning or mid-afternoon caffè, or a multi-generational group of family and friends laughing amongst themselves in the corner.

For the above reasons, EtnaCoffee’s been a fixture in my London routine for a few years already, and I wish them all the success they deserve (I still need to get back to try their homemade...

I visited this venue for lunch in early February 2022.

It is wonderfully located within walking distance of Oxford Street.

This place is a 100% Sicilian experience.

This cafeteria is very clean, well laid out with seating indoors and outdoors - nicely decorated with Sicilian products as well as a display of historical and cultural pieces.

The staff are very welcoming, friendly and professional - Filippo brilliantly attended to us throughout.

If you are after 'Sicilian street food' - as the shop sign shows - or want to try something new, then this is the place to come.

Firstly, the cappuccino was first class - excellent taste and beautifully presented with nice cutlery.

Then the Cannoli. This is legendary - the texture and taste of the crust (waffle of fried dough) is awesome as is the fresh ricotta cheese filling (traditional) with chocolate and pistachio. I cannot emphasize enough how heavenly the Cannoli tastes here. I believe Filippo when he says that they make the best Cannoli in Europe - so by definition, in the whole world.

I then had bacon and pistachio arancini - rice balls coated with bread crumbs and deep fried with filling of cheese etc - they had a beautiful texture, smell and taste. They are also very filling.

The bill was very reasonable given the high quality of food, fabulous service and the brilliant atmosphere of the venue.

If you are after a fabulous traditional Sicilian food experience, then I strongly recommend you visit this venue.

I plan to return when I am next in the area.

Thank you Filippo...

I saw this place being promoted by a couple foodie influencers on socials so one day I decided to give it a try for a quick coffee before heading off elsewhere.

I ordered an oat flat white to have in and it's empty when I went in. The coffee was not that great tbh. But it was really nice to be able to people-watch. Before I left, I got a couple baked goods to go and I ordered the brontella and pistachio croissant. I re-heated the croissant in my air fryer before eating and it's amazing. The croissant was super flaky and buttery and had lots of pistachio cream in it although it was only added on one side of the croissant so it wasn't equally spread out. The brontella was way too sweet for me that I had to eat it in three sittings to not waste any food. It's got a lot of crushed pistachio on the outside which was great as it added more texture but the inside was quite heavy and dense with layers of pistachio cream and biscuit. I just wasn't a big fan of this.

Service was good while I was at the café. The lady was smiley and friendly. The atmosphere was chill as it's a rather quiet café even though it's on the high street. Customers did come and go but the turnover was quick so you could always find a seat.

Overall, it's an okay café that I would be happy revisiting if I am around the area and I would be interested in trying their tarts and...