Carluccio's Caffè

The warmth and clatter, the smell of coffee and baked goods and the shelves of aspirational deli items bring la Repubblica Italiana to the hard lines of Docklands. That’s probably why the suited and booted office folk gallop here for lunchtime pasta and salad. The waiting staff are the apotheosis of Italian expansiveness, with lots of ciao bella! for the ladies and extra twinkle and charm for the babies. The food is as appealing as the welcome. From the first order of the savoury bread selection with its little pool of fruity olive oil, to the superb cioccolato fondente flavoured with coffee liqueur, a hearty meal is assured. Between those, dishes of sea bass fillets with sautéed potatoes and tomato salsa, penne with courgettes and fried spinach balls, and a huge, businesslike salad of roasted vegetables, pesto, olives and mozzarella made a flavour-filled lunch to linger over, helped along by a bottle of fruity Sicilian fiano from the inexpensive wine list.