Restaurants

The Etrusca Group own several Italian restaurants in London, but we think this one is the best of them (though Caravaggio, in the City, is good too). Even with rain beating down on the glass roof, the rear dining area of this comfortably upmarket Italian was a cheering place to be on our Monday night visit. Wealthy locals and businessmen formed a sizeable crowd, which the experienced staff handled with grace. The kitchen was in fine form, matching flavours with ingenuity and presenting them with a flourish. Superb creamy risotto was topped with a flower of grilled chicory that secreted a neat slab of suckling pig. Pork scratchings never looked so elegant as when pressed into a savoury croccante and balanced between rolls of moist veal-shank cannelloni. Attention to detail showed too in the sprigs of thyme laid under a fillet of caponata-crusted sea bream to subtly flavour the fish, and in the crisp-fried skin architecturally arranged on top. Desserts might be gianuja semifreddo with sbrisolona and blood oranges, or the white espresso ice-cream. Wines are taken seriously here; when guests order by the glass, staff bring the bottle to the table for them to check and taste. We like Il Convivio very much; our only complaint is the irritating tendency of staff to push bottled water by constantly refilling glasses.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008