La Trattoria

A celebration of rustic southern Italian cooking rooted in la cucina povera of Puglia — and in the atmosphere of family-run restaurants where meals are made with instinct rather than instruction. Dara Klein, the chef behind Tiella trattoria at London's Compton Arms, grew up inside her parents' Italian restaurant, building lasagne and stealing tiramisu long before she had a kitchen of her own.

The recipes are unfussy and honest — slow-cooked tomato sugo, braised ox cheek, seasonal salads — presented the way Klein trained her chefs: by teaching them to understand how flavour is built, not just how to follow a method. Alongside the cooking, she offers an intimate look at life behind the scenes at some of London's most loved neighbourhood restaurants. An ode to the trattoria table, and a genuinely useful guide to cooking with confidence.