This was our second trip to Ida. We first visited in summer 2023, and although we wrote a review, we never posted it. Ida has achieved something of a reputation in the last couple of years, but remains at its heart a local neighbourhood restaurant.

When you walk past Ida during the day, you wouldn't pay it any notice. It sits on a busy road at the edge of a residential neighbourhood, with a convenience store across the road. It's an unlikely spot for a restaurant, situated pretty close to both Salusbury Road in Queens Park, and the restaurants on Chamberlayne Road close to Kensal Rise. In the daytime it looks slightly unwelcoming, which is probably why it took us so long to visit the first time.

In the evening however, the place livens up. We arrived at Ida at a quarter past six, and we were nearly the first ones in. By the time we were ready to order fifteen minutes later it was full. When we were here last time, on a lovely warm summer evening, there were also a few tables outside. With one set of doors open, even our inside table felt part of the streetscape.

To start, we ordered a crostone to share. The sourdough toast was covered in flavourful (and aromatic) melted taleggio cheese, with grapes and a little syrupy honey.

As his main meal, Derick ordered the wild funghi papperdelle, and as hers, Morag ordered the little ears — orecchiette — which was served with a creamy velouté of cauliflower, and more of the tasty taleggio cheese.

The home-made pasta was nicely al dente, and the sauces thick, slightly sticky, and delicious. We only got (and needed) a fork as utensils, which made the meal more authentic.

With our meal, we also enjoyed their house white wine, which was, fresh with a good flavour that worked well with all our dishes.

After our pasta we were still a bit peckish, and fancied a tiramisu to finish our evening. This was light and fluffy, and we debated whether this was as good as the tiramisu offered by another local restaurant. We think the jury is out on that one though.