Diverso

Offering contemporary Italian dining within a chic, understated interior, with innovative cuisine, friendly service and style. Strategically located in the heart of London's West End, Diverso is popular with tourists who have dress sense, art dealers and the travel trade.

A good range of starters takes in prawns and asparagus on skewers with sesame seeds and honey, thin slices of seared beef with rocket and mustard sauce, layers of aubergine, mozzarella, tomato and Parmesan, or deep fried squid served with a spicy tomato sauce. Cured beef from the Valtellina Valley is served with avocado, and mussels are accompanied by a wild fennel sauce.

Soups and pastas offer the traditional spring vegetable soup and at the other end of the scale is a risotto made with wild mushrooms and black truffle. For pasta look for the ribbon pasta with lobster and tomato sauce. Mixed seafood in a light tomato broth is a good remedy to banish the blues on a bad day.

There is a heavy preponderance of fish amongst the main courses with baked sea bream, char grilled Dover sole, fillet of sea bass, baked halibut with white cannelloni beans and dill, or seared tuna marinated in soy, sea salt and fennel seeds. An innovative dish is the mixed seafood grill of Mediterranean fish.

Pan-fried veal medallions are served with Parma ham, or there is a char grilled veal chop with rosemary, and a veal palliard in breadcrumbs. A great favourite is the calves' liver with Savoy cabbage and smoked bacon. With all these dishes there are side orders of sautéed spinach or French beans, roasted rosemary potatoes or mashed, and steamed seasonal vegetables.

For some curious reason the wines, which, as might be expected, are primarily Italian have been infiltrated amongst the whites by a modest contribution from across the frontier, including a very respectable Chassagne Montrachet at, it has to be said an equally respectable price. Otherwise the list specialises in decent drinkable Italian whites.

The reds are quite a muscular selection with valpolicella, Sicilian merlot, a good-looking chianti with £66 between top and bottom of the list, and no French influences at work here.

Two minutes brisk walk will get you from Green Park Tube to Diverso's door. Advance booking is strongly recommended. For more information do check out their Website , which has full menus and their wine list, all designed to tempt you to go there.