Fulvio’s Focacceria started life as a team lunch.

Every week, the team sits down to eat focaccia made by Fulvio, a much-loved member of the team who has been perfecting his own recipe for years in the Fatto a Mano kitchen in Brighton. It quickly became a talking point around the team, with people asking where they could get their hands on it themselves. Word spread, customers started asking about it too, and before long, it became clear that this team favourite deserved a place of its own.

“Ci vuole tempo,” says Fulvio. “It takes time. People think the secret is in the filling. But the secret is in the dough. Twenty-four hours. Then the focaccia is eaten the day it’s made. Nothing clever.”

Fulvio’s will open at 8am on 16 November 2026 at 3 Great Chapel Street in Soho, serving freshly baked focaccia made by hand and slow proved for at least 24 hours using a traditional two stage BIGA method. The long, slow prove gives a bread that is lighter, more flavourful and easier to digest.

The dough is made to Fulvio’s recipe: just flour, extra virgin olive oil, yeast, water and salt. Everything happens in full view: trays come out of the oven throughout the day, and every focaccia is cut and filled by hand at the counter. No sorry sandwiches that have been sitting in a fridge since the morning.

The opening menu features 8 to 10 signature focaccia, including vegetarian and vegan options, filled to order with Italian ingredients, alongside rotating specials and the option to create your own.

On the menu
The menu brings together the best of Italy’s regions with a few modern ideas from Fulvio himself: mortadella from Bologna, 24-month-aged prosciutto from Parma, buffalo mozzarella from Campania and fennel salami from Tuscany.

Expect mortadella with 24-month aged Parmesan, artichoke cream, wild rocket and shaved parmesan; and 24-month aged Prosciutto di Parma with mozzarella, sun-blushed pomodorino tomatoes, wild rocket and extra virgin olive oil.

Vegetarian options include a Caprese style focaccia with beef tomatoes, mozzarella from Campania and basil pesto, alongside a Sicilian style vegan focaccia with grilled peppers, marinated courgettes, rocket and Sicilian pesto.

The menu will evolve through regular specials, bringing new combinations to the counter throughout the year.

And for afters, there’s a fridge shelf given over entirely to tiramisu.

More than lunch
Fulvio’s opens from 8am on weekdays, serving breakfast alongside its coffee menu. Expect pastries and filled croissants, plus espresso, macchiato and the flat whites and lattes Londoners expect, made on a La Marzocco machine and a dark roasted Italian blend from London craft coffee roaster Kofee. Prices are kept fair, because good coffee should be for everyone.

The idea is simple: coffee and pastry on the way in, freshly made focaccia from 11am, and a reason to come back tomorrow. Fulvio’s will serve focaccia baked fresh on site and filled to order from 11am until closing, bringing a little of Italy’s everyday food culture to Soho.

There is, however, one house rule: “no cappuccino after midday.” For Fulvio, this is no laughing matter. The idea of ordering a cappuccino in the afternoon is enough to cause genuine Italian horror, and he intends to make his feelings known. The rule will be printed on the coffee cups, and a “Bell of Shame” will ring whenever someone dares to order one after midday. Whether customers take the hint remains to be seen. Cappuccinos will, mercifully, still be served.

Opening day offer
To celebrate the opening, Fulvio’s will give away 100 FREE filled focaccia from 11am on opening day on a first come, first served basis, with 50% off all food & drinks throughout the day.

A neighbourhood bakery feel
The small Great Chapel Street space combines Carrara marble, stainless steel, reclaimed timber, glass and handmade Italian tiles, with a palette of dark green, warm off white and touches of Italian red.

The look is deliberately simple and timeless, designed to feel like the kind of neighbourhood bakery you might discover on a side street in Italy.

Rupert Davidson, co-founder of Fulvio’s and Fatto a Mano, comments: “We’d been eating Fulvio’s focaccia for years before we realised everyone else wanted it too. Fulvio’s does one thing properly: bread baked here, today, and filled in front of you. If people walk past in a year’s time and feel like it’s always been there, we’ve done our job.”

Fulvio’s Focacceria
3 Great Chapel Street
Soho, London
Opening: 16 November 2026

Opening hours
Monday to Friday: 8am to 5pm
Saturday and Sunday: 9am to 5pm