POLPO

POLPO does what a great cookbook should do: it makes you urgently want to cook and breaks new territory * Daily Telegraph *Wonderful … the dishes are simple, with relatively few ingredients, but they’re inspired. The grilled courgettes with toasted breadcrumbs, for instance, was sublime. The pages of my book are already smeared with olive oil and egg; a good sign – Melanie McDonagh * Evening Standard *A marvellously useful guide to anyone who actually wants to cook – Cary Gee * Tribune *A present for the greedy gourmets in your life * Observer *Delicious * Mail on Sunday *Gorgeous * Daily Mail *Like a trip round the bars and bacari of Venice * Independent *A delight for its goodies from Venice and beyond, beautifully presented in a book that (hallelujah) lies flat on the kitchen surface – Lisa Markwell * Independent *Definitely the design classic of 2012 * Irish Times *

Russell Norman was an acclaimed restaurateur. Over 20 years he worked in many of London’s landmark restaurants as a waiter, bartender, maître d’, general manager and operations director. In 2009 he founded an independent restaurant company with his best friend and went on to open many restaurants in central London including Polpo, Spuntino and Brutto. His book POLPO: A Venetian Cookbook (of Sorts) was voted Waterstones Book of the Year 2012. In 2014 he presented The Restaurant Man, a six-part prime-time documentary for BBC2, and his second book SPUNTINO: Comfort Food, New York Style was published in September 2015. Russell died in 2023.