L'Anima

This vast, ultra-minimalist room in the soulless precincts of the City uses a glass wall to divide dining room and 'lounge area'. The dining room has more comfortable seating, and tablecloths. We lunched in the lounge, and while unforgiving acoustics sometimes made conversation difficult, the extraordinary food seemed to make everything else irrelevant.

Two of us shared three starters and came away full. Linguini with crab, lemon and chilli was sauced impeccably, the chilli lending a warm glow rather than scorching fire to the delicate flavour of the crab. Stoccafisso (reconstituted dried fish) with scallops and anchovy sauce consisted of two plump bivalves, each on a mound of the fish, with elegant daubs of the sauce inviting a finishing swipe of the excellent own-made bread. A huge fritto misto - fish and shellfish with delectable shreds of courgette and enoki mushrooms - was a wonder of precise deep-frying that left us gasping for superlatives.

The wine list caters generously for the bonus boys, but has good bottles under £25. Service was flawless. A full meal à la carte is expensive, but with one glass of wine and a bottle of water, our bill came to a shade over £60.