The story
Gina is a British and Modern European restaurant at 92 Station Road in Chingford, awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2026 for good quality, good value cooking. It opened in 2025 on the edge of Epping Forest, and the kitchen is run by chef-owner Mattie Taiano.
The restaurant is named after Taiano's late mother. Italian heritage shows up in the kitchen, though the dishes draw on ingredients and ideas from well beyond Italy. Cornish seafood might appear as a salty medley of monkfish and bacon. The Good Food Guide, which lists Gina in its 2026 edition, describes the guiding ethos as crowd-pleasing food done well.
The signature main is Gina's pasta, spaghetti in marinara sauce under a drift of Parmesan. Desserts lean towards generous flavours, such as a dense slab of Ravi's chocolate cake or chilled rice pudding with cherries. Menus change regularly with seasonal produce, and a blackboard is updated twice daily.
The dining room is small and lively, with long banquettes and bright modern art on scuffed walls. It feels contemporary and homely at once. The wine list is thoughtfully composed, and there are two house cocktails: Gina's Martini and the Margarita Cremisi.
Recognition
Details
History
good quality, good value cooking
Located where the outer London suburbs fray into the thickets of Epping Forest, Gina has brought a beam of gastronomic sunshine to the culinary badlands of Chingford’s Station Road since 2025. Step inside and you'll encounter a lively little dining room with long banquettes and bright modern art hanging on scuffed walls – a space that manages to look contemporary but also homely. The restaurant is named after chef-owner Mattie Taiano’s late mother, and, though Italian heritage is certainly an influence in the kitchen, dishes plunder ingredients and ideas from near and far: Cornish seafood might feature in a salty and satisfying medley of monkfish and bacon, for example. Crowd-pleasing food done well seems to be the guiding ethos here, evidenced in the signature main of ‘Gina’s pasta’ (a terrific tangle of spaghetti swimming in marinara sauce under drifts of Parmesan). Desserts veer towards big, generous flavours, be it a dense slab of Ravi’s chocolate cake or chilled rice pudding with cherries. Alongside a thoughtfully composed wine list, you’ll find two house cocktails – Gina’s Martini and Margarita Cremisi.
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