Refettorio

A real City slicker, this restaurant is housed (along with a hotel) behind the Grade II-listed façade of a grand old stationery warehouse. At lunchtime it's busy with a business clientele; evenings are quieter but attract a smattering of well-to-do hotel guests looking for simple Italian cooking and an early night. The warmly glossy wood interior, with savvy mix of refectory-style central table, booths and tables for two is inviting, so too the lengthy menu, which offers 15 starters and pasta dishes, and around ten mains. The latter tend towards the classic: calf's liver with spinach and balsamic, or roast lamb with peperonata. Fresh pasta is made in-house and is used in dishes such as salt cod ravioli and pennette with pork ragu. Our conchiglie (shell-shaped pasta) with mashed green pea sauce was given a salty lift with chunks of pancetta. Tiramisu with liquorice ice-cream sounded exciting but the parfait that arrived lacked substance. Much better was the coppa classica (vanilla, chocolate and choc-chip ice-creams topped with morello cherries), though the portion was not as bodacious as we remember from previous visits. The wine list features over 100 Italian bins. Keep an eye out for seasonal specials such as a white truffle menu.