Manteca, Shoreditch

Manteca is an Italian-British restaurant located in the heart of Shoreditch. At the restaurant’s core is a commitment to sustainability, craft and carefully cultivated produce. Guests are immersed in the kitchen via a bold move to scatter the layout of the kitchen around the heart of the restaurant. This architectural decision both tackles the tricky structural limitations of the site being split into two by an immensely thick brick dividing wall, and places guests and chefs together in one space.

Both the colour palette and the cooking are centred around the pasta made on-site and the buttery warmth of the rich sauces that accompany it. A highly technical, sharply modern stainless-steel kitchen is enveloped in burnt, buttery brown Clayworks clay plaster walls, pasta-coloured booths, rich tan tones and oak cladding that echo the colours of the fluffy focaccia made and baked on-site.