FORZA WIN, PECKHAM

A few weeks ago I ventured to Peckham, for maybe the first time in over ten years, since I lived nearby in Camberwell! A friend who's moving to Cuba was having a get together so we headed to Forza Win - billed as an Italian restaurant in a Peckham warehouse - after a few pre dinner cocktails on a double decker bar/bus next door first. Forza Win was brilliant. The night we went was "pop up restaurant" format - everyone sat and ate together. No menu choices, just huge sharing platters of delicious food, unless you had dietary requirements, in which case you got your own plate of food. It's all about local, seasonal, top quality Italian food. Simple and delicious.

My photos are awful - I was having far too much fun with my mates to take decent pics, but I wanted to tell you about the food in case you haven't heard of Forza Win and you're looking for a fab night out of food and fun. While our group were sat at the end of one of the long tables, we soon started chatting to the diners on our other side as soon as the plates of antipasti were brought out for all to share. Excellent sourdough, duck ham and whipped white beans full of garlic started us off while we ordered very reasonably priced wines (£20 and up) from the waiters for the table. 

The nibbles were followed by food proper - huge plates of linguini primavera - al dente pasta with sorrel and spring greens. Main course was nettle risotto topped with grilled lamb neck fillet and served with asparagus and grilled baby gem. Our table looked and tasted like Spring in Italy. My vague attempts at recreating the lamb and risotto at home yielded nothing like the tasty dishes we had at FW.

Puddings were a palate cleanser of blood orange sorbet, and pecorino with honey, but in all honesty I think puddings in our group were mainly liquid and made from grapes by that point!

Forza Win is really good. It's £35 a head for food, and they also do walk in lunches, masterclasses and all sorts of other fun foodie things. Absolutely worth the trek to Peckham!