Review in a few: Covent Garden's Capilungo

I’m tired of queuing for hype-pastries. I can no longer wait in the cold listening to a hip, young parent repeatedly tell their toddler not to eat dirt off the floor. Not even if the baker is Jeremy Allen White himself.

Today, I’m on the hunt for instant gratification. My feelers have taken me to Covent Garden, where at the north end of Long Acre sits Capilungo, a small café and bar serving specialties from the Apulian city of Lecce. The draw? I haven’t seen it on Eating With Tod’s social media. That and the very intriguing baked goods.

Its brunch hour on Saturday and thankfully, the quaint, fairly minimalist space decked out with a few stools and tables contains more pastries than people. Sandwiches the size of paving slabs, too. But first: coffee (sorry). Served in a painterly cup and saucer prime for a Nana’s handbag, a feather-light cappuccino slips down without a hint of tar-tinged bitterness, but it’s the eye-widening caffè Leccese — espresso poured over ice and served with a silken almond milk syrup made in house — that’s worth returning for. Meanwhile a warm, buttery, circular puff filled with Timothée Chalamet-grade tomato and melted mozzarella that goes by the name of the rustico is shamelessly decadent and undeniably delicious (which it should be for £7.50).

For the waistline’s sake, we should have stopped there, but instead we happily sailed away on an indulgent pair of traditional pasticciotti — dense, crumbly almond pastry cases filled with vanilla and pistachio custards, spiked with a touch of orange to cut through the richness and topped with another crispy slab of pastry. And honestly? No regrets. In fact, I’d run to beat the impending queue if I were you. @capilungolondon