Timo Restaurant

Situated at the Olympia end of Kensington High Street is Timo, a very smart Italian restaurant. Here the emphasis is on good quality produce and talented chefs, who are producing Italian dishes that are rather more innovative than is the norm in London.

They have good value fixed price menus at lunchtime, very typically Italian, and they might offer starters like pan fried sardines, lemon, garlic, and parsley crust or vegetarian timbale gratinated with smoked mozzarella, followed by spaghettini with bacon. onion, chilli, and fresh tomatoes; oven baked fillet of sea-bream with lentils and parsley sauce or wild boar stew with pan-fried polenta.

On the main menu the selection could include interesting starters such as deep fried squid and king prawns with sweet and sour sauce; roasted goat's cheese with walnuts and baby spinach salad or courgette flower filled with sea-bas and cod on a bed of tomato coulis, definitely not your normal Italian fare.

Whilst mains could offer oven baked cod with carrots, shallots, artichokes and saffron sauce or Angus beef tagliata with rocket, parmesan and roast potatoes and wonderful pasta dishes such as potato and butternut squash gnocchi served with butter and rosemary or tagliatelle with Italian sausages and truffle oil.

For dessert it's the poached pear in white wine with vanilla sauce and Tignanello grappa that is the must have choice.