Giant Italian food hall Eataly to open in London

Eataly, a 40,000 square foot Italian food and wine hall, will open in London’s Liverpool Street next year, marking the UK debut of the popular Italian brand.

As reported by Eater London, the announcement comes nearly three years after the London opening was first written about.

Residing across two floors in Broadgate next to Liverpool Street station, the food hall will boast three restaurants, three bars, six ‘eateries’, two terraces, 12 retail departments and a cookery school.

Eataly will open next to Liverpool Street station

The food hall will sell over 5,000 Italian products and will employ 300 staff. It will also boast a cavernous wine shop selling over 2,000 different Italian wines in what it claims will be the most comprehensive Italian wine offering in London.

Among the restaurants within the complex is the high-end Terra, which is due to open next summer, which will sit alongside a more informal pizza and pasta venue, and a market to table restaurant cooking with produce from the food hall.

As reported by Eater, Terra will focus on the quality of the base ingredients, which will be cooked with respect and in a simple way to allow them to shine.

“Terra’s hero grill embodies the most ancient yet most difficult cooking method thus bringing to life the restaurant’s core belief: it is difficult to be simple,” London store manager Matteo Ferrio, told Eater.

There will also be an area on the ground floor dedicated to speedy office lunches. On the same floor will be a Gran Caffè serving coffee, pastries and Italian gelato.

Eataly was founded by entrepreneur Oscar Farinetti in Turin in 2004. If you include London, the global brand operates 43 food halls around the world.

“London has been a key target in our global expansion plans for some time now and we’re happy to be bringing our vision and a love of high-quality food to the UK,” Eataly’s chief executive, Nicola Farinetti, told Eater London.

“Eataly is all about taking the Italian gastronomic culture abroad, making it accessible to all in a celebration of the craft, taste and traditions of Italian food and drink. Bringing people together is at the heart of what we do and this is even more important in the current climate,” he added.