Bocconcino Restaurants in Covent Garden, Soho and Mayfair offer a refined Italian dining experience in London. Established by Michael Gokhner, the restaurants feature authentic Italian cuisine from various regions of Italy.
The elegant interiors blend contemporary and rustic elements, perfect for intimate dinners and lively gatherings. Our innovative cocktail menus further enhance the dining experience, making Bocconcino a standout destination in London's dining scene.
Italian restaurants in Mayfair and Soho, both serving authentic Italian cuisine
Bocconcino has been serving regional Italian food in central London for over a decade. The original restaurant opened in Mayfair on Berkeley Street and remains the cornerstone of the brand. The Soho restaurant on Great Marlborough Street followed, drawing on the same kitchen philosophy but adapted for the energy of Soho. Both are owned and run by Mikhail Gokhner, and both share Head Chef Marco Corsica’s menu of Italian dishes drawn from his upbringing on the Mediterranean coast.
Each restaurant has its own character. Mayfair is the more formal of the two, set across a ground floor inspired by traditional Italian dining rooms and a lower ground floor with a DJ on Thursdays, Saturday brunch and Saturday evenings, and a live singer on Friday evenings and through the Sunday buffet brunch. Soho is looser, with warm earthy tones, marble accents and a contemporary fit-out that nods to the brand’s Forte dei Marmi roots. Resident DJs play on Friday and Saturday nights and during Saturday brunch service.
What unites them is the cooking. The menu at both restaurants takes its lead from the regional Italian tradition: handcrafted pastas, sumptuous antipasti, and Roman-style pizzas baked in front of guests. Dishes draw from Tuscany, Rome, Sicily, Napoli and Florence, with seasonal changes throughout the year. Bocconcino is a place where you can order a simple pasta and a glass of Barolo and feel that both have been made with care.
Bocconcino Mayfair: an Italian restaurant in the heart of W1J
The Mayfair restaurant sits at 19 Berkeley Street, a few minutes from Green Park. The ground floor draws its inspiration from the dining rooms of central Italy, with a romantic atmosphere and an emphasis on the open-fire pizza oven and the hand-rolled pasta station. Descend the staircase and the lower ground floor takes the mood up a register: low light, a music programme that runs from Thursday through to Sunday, and a more intimate seating arrangement that suits anniversaries, birthdays and corporate dinners equally well.
Mayfair is the right Bocconcino for a long lunch with wine, a quiet dinner before a show, or a private dining event in one of the lower ground floor rooms. The kitchen leans into the more refined side of the menu here: whole sea bass, dry-aged steaks, truffle pasta in season, and a sommelier-led wine pairing service for the main tasting menu. The crowd is mixed: business lunches at midday, regulars in the early evening, occasion diners later. Many guests come for the bottomless brunch on Saturdays, which has become one of the more talked-about brunch services in Mayfair.
Bocconcino Soho: an Italian restaurant on Great Marlborough Street
The Soho restaurant is at 59 Great Marlborough Street, a short walk from Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road and Carnaby Street. The building has a different energy to Mayfair. The ground floor is open and busy, the music is louder on a Friday and Saturday night, and the room runs at a different pace. The Forte dei Marmi reference in the design comes through in the softer palette and the marble work. The Saturday brunch with a resident DJ has become a fixture for groups celebrating birthdays and occasions, and the bottomless prosecco service runs through to the early afternoon.
Below the restaurant is Sotto Bar, a separate venue with its own brand identity, run as a basement cocktail bar with a curated drinks list. Sotto can be hired for private events independent of the restaurant above. Sotto and Bocconcino Soho share an address, but they are distinct spaces, with different menus and different opening times.
Soho works well for a birthday or hen party brunch, a long lunch with friends, or a late dinner. The kitchen runs the same regional Italian menu as Mayfair, with a slightly broader pizza selection and a strong Saturday brunch service.
Regional Italian cooking, drawn from the kitchen of Head Chef Marco Corsica
Bocconcino’s kitchen is led by Head Chef Marco Corsica. Marco grew up on the Mediterranean coast and brings a working knowledge of Italian cuisine that runs from the seafood traditions of Sicily and Napoli to the meat and pasta dishes of Tuscany and Rome. The menu changes seasonally and reflects the ingredients each region of Italy is known for. Florence is in the bistecca and the Chianti pairings, Sicily is in the octopus and the parmigiana, Rome is in the cacio e pepe and the carbonara, Napoli is in the wood-fired pizza dough.
The pasta is hand-rolled in-house and the pizza is Roman-style: thinner crust, baked in front of guests on the open-fire oven. The antipasti selection is generous, with cured meats, parmigiana, and seafood plates that reflect the season. Dishes are designed to be shared in the Italian way, but most also work as a single main course with a side. There is a vegetarian and vegan run through the menu rather than as a separate afterthought, and the kitchen accommodates dietary requirements without making a point of it.
Wine: a 300-bottle list from across Italy and beyond
The wine list at both restaurants is built around Italy. Over 300 bottles are on the list at any time, with a focus on Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, Amarone and Super Tuscans. The Head Sommelier curates the selection with two priorities in mind. The first is breadth: every Italian region with a serious wine tradition is represented, from Piedmont down through Tuscany, Veneto and the Marche, into Campania, Sicily and Sardinia. The second is interest: alongside the well-known producers, the list highlights organic and biodynamic winemakers and indigenous varieties that don’t always make it into London restaurant lists.
France is also represented, with particular attention to Champagne and Burgundy, and there is a smaller selection from the rest of the world for guests who prefer to drink outside Italy. By the glass and Coravin options run from accessible to serious, and the sommelier team is available to advise on pairings across the menu, particularly for the tasting menu and the larger groups in the private dining rooms.
Brunch, lunch, dinner, private dining and events
Both restaurants serve lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. Mayfair runs a bottomless brunch on Saturdays with a DJ, bottomless prosecco and an optional upgrade to a bottomless cocktail selection, and a Sunday buffet brunch (Il Grande) which leans into the seafood side of the menu, served with a glass of prosecco, with bottomless prosecco or bottomless Champagne available as an upgrade. Soho runs a bottomless brunch on Saturdays with a resident DJ. Pre-theatre menus are available at Soho, given its proximity to the West End theatres, and an Italian set lunch is available at Mayfair on weekdays for guests on a working lunch schedule.
Private dining rooms are available at both venues. Mayfair has dedicated rooms across the lower ground floor that work for groups from a small dinner party up to larger corporate or family events. Soho’s spaces work well for hen parties, birthdays and standing receptions, with the option to combine the restaurant with Sotto Bar downstairs for a longer evening.
Booking, location and getting in touch
Tables can be reserved online at both restaurants. The Mayfair restaurant is at 19 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8ED, with the nearest tube station Green Park. The Soho restaurant is at 59 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7JY, with the nearest tube stations Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road. Reservations for both venues are taken on 020 7499 4510 or through the booking page on this site. Group bookings, private dining enquiries and corporate events are handled by the events team and can be enquired about by email through the contact page.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are two Bocconcino restaurants in central London. Bocconcino Mayfair is at 19 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8ED. Bocconcino Soho is at 59 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7JY. Sotto Bar, a separate basement cocktail bar, is located beneath the Soho restaurant and shares the same address.
Bocconcino serves regional Italian cuisine. The menu reflects dishes from Tuscany, Rome, Sicily, Napoli and Florence, including handcrafted pasta, sumptuous antipasti, and Roman-style pizzas baked in front of guests on the open-fire oven. Head Chef Marco Corsica leads the kitchen and the menu draws on his Mediterranean coast upbringing.
The core menu is shared across both restaurants. Some dishes are specific to each venue, particularly around brunch, Sunday service and seasonal events. Mayfair leans toward the more formal end of the menu, Soho has a slightly broader pizza section and a busier weekend service.
Yes. Both Mayfair and Soho have dedicated private dining spaces. Mayfair’s rooms are on the lower ground floor and suit dinners and corporate events. Soho’s spaces work well for birthdays, hen parties and group celebrations, with the option to combine the booking with Sotto Bar downstairs.
Yes. Bocconcino Mayfair runs a Saturday bottomless brunch with a DJ, bottomless prosecco and an optional upgrade to a bottomless cocktail selection, and a separate Sunday Il Grande buffet brunch served with a glass of prosecco, with bottomless prosecco or bottomless Champagne available as an upgrade. Bocconcino Soho runs a Saturday bottomless brunch with a resident DJ. Each brunch has its own menu and its own seating times.
The Mayfair restaurant is split across two floors. The ground floor is the traditional Italian dining space and works well for daytime and early evening dining. The lower ground floor is the more intimate space, with a DJ on Thursdays, Saturday brunch and Saturday evenings, and a live singer on Friday evenings and Sunday brunch, and is the better choice for occasion dining and private events.
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