‘It has to be legit – not just us messing around’: Da Costa’s authentic Italian in the Cotswolds

Another typical dish from the area is a radicchio risotto with prosecco. “The only thing we use from Italy is the rice,” says Orpwood, who points to the radicchio, again, from the restaurant’s walled garden. The English sparkling wine is from Bruton and the blue cheese that sits atop the rice is from Devon or Bath. “And that’s it – it’s full circle, taking a traditional classic dish with our British ingredients, while keeping it true to its origins,” he says.

Orpwood believes he got lucky having a tight concept for the restaurant, which opened two months ago, replacing the Roth Bar and Grill, which closed in January 2024. The chef, who joined Art Farm from 20 Berkeley Street in Mayfair, says a few concepts were discussed for the site, but the idea to create an Italian restaurant resonated with founders Iwan and Manuela Wirth – particularly Iwan, who’s Italian heritage can be traced back to the small mountainous village of Rivamonte Agordino in Veneto where his grandfather originated from.

“It’s extremely personal to Iwan and his family and it needed to be executed to perfection. In terms of cuisine it has to be legit – not just us messing around,” says Orpwood. “Everything is personal and real and that’s what I enjoy about the role.”

On joining Art Farm at the beginning of this year, Orpwood threw himself into his new role which also involves him looking after the Fife Arms in Braemar, the Fish Shop in Ballater and Catina in Menorca: “I live in Essex, so technically my quickest commute is to Menorca,” he laughs.

But it’s Da Costa at Durslade Farm where he spends most of his time, training chefs and developing menus. He has an intense passion for researching cuisines – his current bedtime reading is an 18th-century cookbook, along with pages of Swiss recipes, handwritten in Romansh, which he is trying to decipher – “Google doesn’t even translate that language!”

While his previous roles have seen him work with Asian flavours when he headed the teams at the likes of Lucky Cat and Sexy Fish in London, his classical training and personal love of Italy has seen him enjoy honing in on Italian food’s regionality.

Another dish on the Da Costa menu that is Veneto through and through is the bigoli in salsa – probably the menu’s simplest dish, but yet another “marker for the region,” says Orpwood. Bigoli is a thick noodle pasta often served with anchovies, onions and olive oil, but on his research trips to Veneto, Orpwood says it was different every time he tried it.

“Sometimes it was sardines, others times it was anchovies,” he recalls. “But what we always do in the restaurant is slowly caramelise the onions for two-and-a-half hours. I learned from making Spanish tortilla in Catina that you need to keep adding water to steam the onions, because they can’t caramelise properly if they’re not cooked. So, we add a little oil and water until they are falling apart and the liquid reduces and evaporates.”

The onions are then combined with chopped anchovies and red chillies cooked in olive oil, along with pasta water and parsley, which is then stirred through the noodles.

While the restaurant stays true to many of the Italian recipes Orpwood has discovered through his research, there are a couple of switches a keen-eyed Italophile might spot on the menu. Take the tonnato, traditionally slices of slow-roasted veal served with a mayonnaise, tuna and caper sauce, but at Da Costa, Orpwood and the team braise ox tongue instead of veal to keep the costs down so it can be offered on the two courses for £22 lunch set menu.

“Ox tongues are a pound each,” he says. “We brine them overnight and then steam it at 85°C in a vac pack with brine and slice it thin like charcuterie before serving with confit tuna and the traditional sauce – this is a little cheeky and innovative, while other dishes you can never mess around with.”

But it’s the combination of old and new that Orpwood says sums up Art Farm as a group. “We’re 100% traditional and authentic, but also a little humble and innovative.”

From the menu

Antipasti

• Smoked chestnut and porcini soup with pangrattato £9
• Marinated beetroots with stracciatella and mustard leaves £14
• Venison tartare with Westcombe Cheddar, toasted chestnuts and pickled baby onions £19
• Grilled walled garden radicchio with apple, grapes & walnuts £14
• Puntarelle salad with anchovy and fennel £16

Pasta and risotto

• Bigoli in salsa £16 
• Schlutzkrapfen with Fran’s pumpkins, sage and pine nuts £19
• Pappardelle with confit duck ragù, black cabbage and pecorino £22
• Handmade buckwheat gnocchi with fondue di formaggi misti £18

Wood-fired grill

• Estate shot venison with creamy polenta and Da Costa sauce £32
• The season’s mushrooms with Jerusalem artichoke polenta £22
• Cornish monkfish with braised lentils and soppressata £31
• Roast guinea fowl with smoked pumpkins and Swiss chard £31
• Braised ox cheek with creamy polenta £26

Da Costa, Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane, Bruton, Somerset BA10 ONL

da-costa.co.uk