Caldesi

Caldesi is very friendly, intimate, and carefully decorated, using fresh ingredients to reflect the four seasons. Giancarlo and his team have brought cooking from his own native Tuscany to this charming corner of London. There is a delicious a la carte menu, with four daily specials, and in 2002, Metro described it as "One of the 'Top 4' regional Italian restaurants in London".

The majority of the dishes are recipes that have never been written down but have been verbally handed down from generation to generation in-keeping with true Tuscan family tradition. Every detail from recipes to decor is overseen with great care and attention to keep the authenticity and standards of this popular neighbourhood restaurant.

Choose from starters like buffalo mozzarella, slow roasted tomatoes, basil and rosemary on rocket leaves; fresh crab and avocado with tarragon and lemon dressing on salad leaves; bruschetta topped with black cabbage, white beans and garlic or asparagus with parmesan shavings and lemon butter. There are wonderful pasta dishes that can be taken as a first crourse or as a main: handmade pasta with duck, tomato and red wine sauce; homemade pasta stuffed with sea bass with tomato and pinenuts; risotto with pecorino, gorgonzola and parmesan cheeses; spaghetti with tomato, garlic, chilli and fresh parsley or homemade ravioli stuffed with spinach, ricotta and porcini mushrooms.

Follow that with: oven baked salmon with Tuscan herb crust and fresh tomato salsa or pan-fried monkfish with fresh tomato, white wine, garlic, thyme and basil; wild boar slow cooked with tomato, red wine and soffritto; oven baked rack of lamb with shallots, mushrooms and red wine or beef stewed for four hours with tomatoes, red wine and black peppercorns.

Upstairs is a beautifully frescoed private dining room decorated in the style of a Florentine Palazzo complete with gold leaf stars. Here you can enjoy the a la carte menu, a set menu or a Renaissance Feast including suckling pig and stuffed guinea fowl.