Restaurants

La Collina has two significant problems, both a few minutes’ walk away: Sardo Canale, the local branch of Fitzrovia’s Sardo and the Engineer gastropub . While these more famous names might draw punters away from La Collina, that would be a shame, because it is a serious, authentic Italian local. The small ground-floor room is better than the cramped downstairs, and the garden out back is glorious on a warm day. The menu changes frequently, but the dishes we ate give a good idea of the ambition of the kitchen, which demonstrates a sure hand with seafood: our meal featured a dazzling octopus and cuttlefish salad, excellent gnocchetti neri (little squid-ink gnocchi) with mussels, spaghetti with prawns and langoustines. Braised rabbit with artichoke hearts was beautifully cooked and deeply flavourful. The short, all-Italian wine list could offer more choice under £20 but sound house wines mean you can eat three courses for £40 a head. If there is a complaint, it’s the absence of that finishing touch which raises a dish from good to wonderful: the bland, oily dressing on an otherwise impeccable starter of grilled radicchio and endive with young goat’s cheese exemplified that failing. But such complaints are minor – La Collina is cherishable.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009