A London restaurant pulled spaghetti carbonara from its menu, claiming that diners complained too much that it didn't contain cream — and sometimes even asked to add chicken

• An Italian restaurant in London stopped selling carbonara because customers didn't appreciate its "authentic" recipe.
• The restaurant said that diners complained about the dish or asked for extra ingredients.

An Italian restaurant in London pulled pasta carbonara from its menu, claiming that customers didn't appreciate its "authentic" recipe.

Bottega Prelibato in Shoreditch said last week that it had stopped serving the Italian staple after diners complained about the dish or asked for extra ingredients to be added.

The restaurant said in an Instagram post that it made the dish in the "traditional Roman style" using egg yolks, Pecorino cheese, black pepper, and guanciale, a kind of cured pork cheek. Carbonara recipes can vary greatly, however, leaving some diners accustomed to different tastes – some restaurants and home cooks add cream, or substitute bacon or pancetta for guanciale, or serve it with parsley on top. It's a topic of fiery debate among Italians.
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"Some of you have asked us to add cream, mushrooms, chicken, or other ingredients to our carbonara," Bottega Prelibato wrote in its Instagram post. "Some said it was too salty, others that it was not creamy enough."
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Reviews on Google say that the carbonara was "really salty" and not saucy enough. One reviewer called it a "disgrace."

"I had the carbonara which I was told I couldn't go wrong with," one reviewer wrote. "Turns out it can go very badly wrong."

"It's on the list of the worst carbonara I've ever eaten," another reviewer wrote.

The restaurant has an average 4.0-star rating on Tripadvisor and 4.1-star rating on Google.
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"We respect your preferences, but we are not willing to compromise on our quality and authenticity," the restaurant wrote in its Instagram post.

Responses to its post were generally very positive, with commenters commending Bottega Prelibato for the move and for honoring the Roman recipe.

"That's one of our ways to know if a restaurant is authentic," one commenter said. "If there is cream its a no go."

"I'd suggest to those dear English people asking for such a creative carbonara to ask some cream and chicken topping their fish and chips too," another person wrote.