Giulia

A West London Italian That Operates on Its Own Terms

Shepherd's Bush and the streets around Askew Road don't generate the same editorial heat as Soho or Mayfair, but the dining on this stretch of W12 has been quietly consistent for years. Giulia occupies that specific niche London does better than most cities: the serious neighbourhood Italian, priced for regulars, cooking at a level that draws people in from further afield without marketing itself to them. A Michelin Plate since 2024 and ranked #392 in Opinionated About Dining's Casual list that year (up from a recommended position in 2023, and climbing to #446 in the 2025 edition), the restaurant has accumulated recognition without shifting its register.

The format is deliberately contained. The room is small, the front-of-house team is tight, and the menu changes with the season rather than cycling through a permanent greatest-hits format. That approach — short repertoire, regular rotation — has become a reliable signal of intent in London's Italian restaurants, distinguishing kitchens that cook to the ingredient calendar from those that hold the same list year-round. Giulia sits firmly in the former camp.

The Menu as a Study in Restraint

London's Italian dining scene has split into at least three visible tiers over the past decade. At one end, you have destination restaurants like Luca and Bocca di Lupo, operating with a broader wine program and a higher price ceiling. At the other, the trattoria-style neighbourhood room where the cooking is honest but ambition is kept deliberately in check. Giulia occupies a narrow middle ground: a pared-back aesthetic with a contemporary touch, priced at ££ but cooking with the confidence of a room charging more.

The menu's philosophy shows up most clearly in what stays and what rotates. Seared octopus with cauliflower, creamy potato and 'nduja sauce is effectively a permanent fixture , the kind of dish that earns its place by being the version people benchmark others against. Seasonal additions follow the produce: baked courgette flower filled with ricotta with a courgette salad in summer, roast lamb rack with braised shoulder, peas and asparagus when the season permits. The veal cotoletta alla milanese has drawn consistent praise. Handmade pasta appears in multiple forms , seafood paccheri among the standouts , and both focaccia and gelato are made in-house. The tiramisu has acquired something of a reputation, with at least one self-identified Italian regular nominating it the finest they have encountered. The lemon tart with caramelised apricot offers a sharper, more acidic alternative to close.

This is a kitchen that understands balance: richness cut with acidity, familiar dishes executed with precision rather than reinvented for novelty. That instinct is what separates the Michelin Plate restaurants from the merely competent.

The Wine List and the Logic of All-Italian Pairing

The decision to run an all-Italian wine list is more editorial than it might first appear. It reflects a conviction that Italian food and Italian wine are not just compatible but structurally dependent on one another , that the high acidity and regional character of wines from Campania, Friuli, or Piedmont exist partly in response to the food cultures they grew alongside. That's a defensible position, and it's one that the leading Italian restaurants in London have been making more explicitly in recent years.

At Giulia, the list is described as short and affordable, which at ££ pricing is the correct calibration. The purpose of a wine list at a restaurant in this bracket isn't to showcase rare allocations but to support the food without forcing the diner into a separate budget decision. An all-Italian structure helps: the pairing logic is built into the list's geography. A Sicilian red that sits alongside the cotoletta, a northern white against the seafood paccheri , the regional provenance does the recommendation work that a longer, more international list would need a sommelier to perform explicitly. Comparable Italian-focused wine programs at venues like Artusi or Bancone operate on similar principles, though with different price points and scales.

For context, the restaurants at the leading of London's European fine dining tier , The Fat Duck in Bray, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Moor Hall in Aughton , tend to operate multi-hundred-label wine programs with dedicated sommelier teams. That's a different conversation entirely. Giulia's list is calibrated for a room where the meal is the focus and the wine supports it, not the reverse. That's not a limitation; it's a sensible read of what the format requires.

The Italian wine category has also become significantly more navigable for London diners over the past ten years. Natural and low-intervention producers from Sicily, Puglia, and the Veneto have built enough retail presence that customers arrive with some familiarity. An all-Italian list that would have required more explanation a decade ago now often needs less, which makes the short-list format work harder in a smaller room.

Context: Where Giulia Sits in London's Italian Dining

The Italian restaurant category in London is wide and uneven. At the premium end, venues like Luca operate with tasting menus and destination pricing. The neighbourhood tier , the one Giulia occupies , is more crowded and harder to sustain, because it relies on repeat business from locals who have genuine alternatives. The fact that Giulia has maintained consistent Opinionated About Dining recognition across three consecutive years while holding a ££ price point suggests the kitchen has resolved that tension successfully.

By comparison, the kinds of institutional grand-occasion restaurants that define London's four-pound-sign tier , think Gidleigh Park in Chagford or Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Great Milton , serve a structurally different purpose. Giulia is the kind of restaurant you go back to on a Tuesday because the octopus is there and the wine is right and the room feels like it knows you.

For those following Italian cooking across cities, the comparison extends internationally. The approach to technique and restraint visible at Giulia has parallels in how Italian-influenced kitchens operate elsewhere: at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Hong Kong at the luxury end, or at cenci in Kyoto where Italian and Japanese sensibilities meet. The common thread is restraint in execution, quality in sourcing, and a list structure that doesn't overwhelm the food.

What Regulars Order , and Why It Matters

Opinionated About Dining's consistent ranking of Giulia within its Casual category across 2023, 2024, and 2025 is partly a function of diner loyalty: the survey methodology weights repeat visits and recommender depth. That's a useful proxy for what regulars actually order. The seared octopus with 'nduja is the dish that appears most consistently in accounts of the restaurant, treated as a reference point rather than a seasonal curiosity. The handmade pasta section draws comparisons to Giulia's sister restaurant Archway around the corner, with nine or so pasta varieties on offer at any given time , fusilli with tomato and zucchini on the lighter end, pappardelle with braised wild boar for those who want something more substantial. The tiramisu and lemon tart both appear in diner accounts as the dessert debate worth having. The in-house focaccia and gelato have also been noted specifically, which at this price point speaks to kitchen discipline: making those things well takes as much care as any main course.

Planning Your Visit

Giulia is at 77 Askew Road, London W12 9AH. The restaurant opens Tuesday through Friday from 5:30pm to 9pm, Friday and Saturday until 10pm, and is closed Sundays and Mondays. The room is small and the kitchen's recognition means it fills consistently; booking ahead is advisable, though a run of counter seats along the bar is held for walk-ins on the night. The wine list is all-Italian and priced at the affordable end. Giulia sits alongside London's broader Italian dining options , for wider context, see our full London restaurants guide, our full London hotels guide, our full London bars guide, our full London wineries guide, and our full London experiences guide.

Quick reference: 77 Askew Road, W12 9AH. Tues–Thurs 5:30–9pm, Fri–Sat 5:30–10pm. Closed Sunday. Price range: ££. Walk-in counter seats available.

What do regulars order at Giulia?

The seared octopus with cauliflower, potato and 'nduja sauce is the closest thing to a permanent fixture on a menu that otherwise changes regularly , it appears in diner accounts across multiple years as the dish people return for. Among the pasta options, the seafood paccheri and the pappardelle with braised wild boar both draw consistent praise. On the dessert side, the tiramisu has acquired something of a cult following among regulars, with the lemon tart with caramelised apricot as the sharper alternative. The in-house focaccia and gelato are also worth noting: at this price tier, making both from scratch signals kitchen commitment that tends to show up across the whole menu. Giulia holds a Michelin Plate (2024) and has been ranked by Opinionated About Dining in its Casual category for three consecutive years, which provides independent confirmation of what the regulars already know.