Ideal Italian job in E17

To describe Trattoria La Ruga as Walthamstow's finest restaurant may sound like faint praise. But as scores of professionals move to the area (their decision eased, no doubt, by fulsome features on the property pages of our sister title, The Evening Standard), good restaurants such as this are well placed to mop up.

Attractively located in the heart of the Walthamstow Village conservation area, La Ruga has been a well-kept secret with locals in the three years since Peter Georgiou (ex St John's) and his partner Nicky Bassil (ex L'Etoile and Live Bait and who doubles up as head chef) took it over. Now it's set to reach a wider audience.

The dining-room is a delight to eat in, with restful blues and natural wood, crisply starched table linen and hand built models of ships all around. This is no oblique reference to the traditional East End reliance on the dockyards, simply a reflection of the owner's pipe dream of owning a boat.

The name, by the way, has nothing to do with wrinkles, as the dog-eared office copy of an Italian dictionary had suggested. It is, apparently, a district of Siena, hometown of the previous owner.

The night we dined here, the room was full, mainly of affluent couples enjoying a leisurely meal and being shmoozed by Peter, who moves from table to table, bringing with him a bottle of his latest 'find'. In this case, a particularly fine imported Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, which seemed to go down well with all who tried it.

To start, I chose the red onion tart, while my companion opted for a ramekin-baked tower of aubergine slices with parmesan gratin and a tomato and rosemary sauce, both at £4.50.

The tart was perfection, with an exquisitely light and delicate pastry, the natural sweetness of the onions matched cleverly with a tasty fruit chutney, while my partner declared herself well satisfied with her savoury opener. Round one, full marks.

For my main, no doubt subliminally influenced by the shipwright's models opposite me, I plumped for a swordfish steak while my companion was tempted by the guinea fowl on a bed of mash.

That the swordfish was so good - succulent yet firm, without any of the blandness one sometimes gets - was no surprise, given the quality of the starters. With a mountain of saut? potatoes and a raft of tender green beans, it's worth mentioning that the portions are on the gargantuan side of generous, so don't snack before coming here.

My partner ensured that the guinea fowl had not laid down his life in vain and honoured his sacrifice in the best way she could. By picking his bones bare of every last scrap of meat she could find, so good was it.