Capanna, La

Restaurant Manager Bernardo takes great delight in presenting a wide ranging menu of traditional Italian cooking in the rustic surroundings of a 16th century farmhouse, itself built from the remaining timbers of a 16th century trading ship. Seldom can there have been such a pleasing combination of skills, well summed up by David Billington in Hello magazine, "La Capanna must boast the prettiest interior of any restaurant I have ever dined in".

To make the experience even more pleasing there is a choice of four places in which to eat. First the dining room, with its Minstrel Gallery, the Conservatory or on those velvety warm evenings with the moon reflected in the River Mole below, when you can sit in the Italian Garden pretending you're in Tuscany as you savour the quality food and wines that are such a feature of La Capanna.

The dining room is graced with an art collection of note, and is overlooked by the gallery, a discreet area that one instinctively feels could harbour the odd liaison dangereuse, or a private party needing an element of privacy without cutting themselves off from the overall atmosphere.

Head Chef Matthew Crook, who trained under Marco Pierre White, works on three main menus, the table d'hote, the Sunday lunch and the a la carte, described here. Start with antipasto La Capanna, a selection of seafood house specialities, or foie gras and green peppercorn terrine with apple and honey jelly. Seasonal specialities could include octopus salad, and smoked salmon Involtino. The pasta selection embraces coralli with fresh tiger prawns, red pesto, pine nuts and chilli, and penne pasta with basil and rocket pesto.

Because a pasta course always seems to be gaining an extra course I tend to approach Italian main dishes with rather more discretion than speed. Like so many Italian restaurants the emphasis on fish is marked and a grilled Dover sole with lemon, asparagus and new potatoes, fillet of monkfish with a fresh langoustine veloute emphasises the point. Fillet of beef wrapped in Italian smoked ham, fresh sauté spinach and gratin potatoes with or without the sauce of your choice, or grilled calves liver with caramelised red onions, crispy smoked bacon and potatoes Dauphinoise says it for the carnivores.

The selection of desserts follow the Italian fashion with a richness and extravagance that rounds the occasion off in a style that leaves your enjoyment in a state of perfection. Choose from six dishes, or the cheese board, with tiramisu and Tia Maria, chocolate fondant, and hazelnut meringue amongst them.

The wine list is designed for those whose pockets are long which is not to say there are not some real bargains to be had amongst the fine array of Italian regional wines, nor the international range of quality bins so professionally collected together.

Musical evenings of a very high standard are frequent occurrences at La Capanna, usually taking the form of an evening of sumptuous food and quality entertainment, with tickets well under £50.

For further details, do consult their comprehensive Website.