Definitely one for the locals

For more than a decade Vegia Zena has quietly gone about its business offering Genoese and Ligurian dishes to locals. Those locals are a pretty affluent bunch as Princess Road is one of those streets lined with large, elegant houses at the foot of Primrose Hill.

This is a locale of smart cars and professional people, handy for barristers and businessmen alike.

You have to suspect that while much is made of the authenticity of the Genoese specials, the majority of the customers view Vegia as a convenient local Italian and are not too bothered about 'specials' such as the moody, thin Genoese focaccia, which has a seam of cheese running through the centre. In any event, that (and some other specials) has a note by it on the menu stipulating that '24 hours notice' is required before ordering it.

How annoying is that? Until time travel is invented, menus that tantalise the diner with dishes that they are already too late to order should be banned. But maybe this is a sign of a genuine local restaurant. If you live here you will know that you must order the farinata su richiesta (a typical Genoese chick-pea pancake) at least a day in advance, and if you don't live here, tough.

The dining room is small and cosy - almost to the point of being cramped - and the restaurant is busy enough to make booking prudent. The service is crisply Italian. The cooking style is fairly rustic and the dishes are hearty. Ordering a starter of black taglioni with cuttlefish brings a decent plateful, while the local Genoese pasta, corzetti, comes with a wild mushroom and veal ragu. Corzetti pasta has an interesting shape - tiny (1cm), thin flat pieces shaped like those spatulas the doctor uses to depress your tongue. The ragu is rich enough, but devoid of mushrooms.

Main courses range from the specials such as a simple dish of roast cod, or a pleasant osso buco served with a risotto Milanese, to soundly done classics such as vitello tonnato and roast rabbit, a Ligurian favourite.

The all-Italian wine list starts steady with some obscure bottles and then scampers away to some pretty expensive stuff. (Any local restaurant that offers a bottle of wine for more than £250 has some pretty wellheeled locals.)

Puds are a tad staid. A panna cotta was firm to the point where it resembled crème caramel and on the list of gelati, ice cream dosed with Baileys, affogato fashion, is more likely to be a Primrose Hill invention than a Genoese one.

There is a bargain set lunch on offer here (two courses and a glass of wine for £8.95), but in the evening Vegia tends to be busy and significantly pricier. This is a restaurant that has survived by matching its style and its food to local customers.

Vegia Zena
17Princess Road, Camden, London, NW1 8JR