Italian gets an Asian twist

The popularity of Chinese food is probably only equalled by Italian. At the address that was once San Frediano, the quintessential trattoria for Sloanes (they called it San Fred's), there is now GIÃ, where chef Diego Piovesan has introduced an oriental accent into the Italian menu.

Here are some examples of this odd decision: marinated duck, watercress and coriander with soya-sesame vinaigrette; beef carpaccio, radicchio and Chinese pine kernals (sic) with basil coulis; giant prawns with black rice infused with lemon grass.

They make up a brief element in the menu and one we ignored, save for the duck salad which had good pieces of meat but not a great dressing.

The fusing of traditions seems like a novelty for its own sake.

Everyone - including the new crop of Sloanes who, in female form, have swapped a shirt with piecrust collar and pearls for that look where you let a slice of flesh show between low-slung trousers and tight top - should concentrate on purely Italian cooking, that doesn't include Atlantic crab and mango salad with "lemony-mint" coulis, which is mostly good.

Octopus salad served in a basket made from a hollowed out lemon was tender and actually derived some flavour from the fruit, so it wasn't just poncy presentation.

From the pasta section, tagliolini, speck and truffle oil provided perfect pasta, seemingly made in-house, with some air-cured ham which was fine although it lacked the smokiness associated with speck.

From the meat course, roasted baby chicken in a tarragon sauce, or jus as the menu puts it, was a flattened bird roasted fiercely so that the skin bubbled and blistered away from the flesh which was soothed by a nice extravagance of butter and herbs.

From the vegetable side orders, which add up to £3 on the price of a dish, the leaf spinach was well cooked but Gi· cucumber salad should be introduced to that gadget called a mandoline which can produce paper-thin slices.

I associate profiteroles with the heyday of San Frediano and the reign of the dessert trolley, so I chose profiterol crocanti, hazelnuts and Kahlua from the dessert list. It turned out to be a rather leathery bun with a marked lack of crunch. Probably blueberry sgroppino or apple "bonbons" would have been more alluring.

The transformation of the interior is radical. Gone, along with trolleys and macho pepper mills, are the rush-seated chairs which were once the sine qua non of a trat.

Tawny suede-like fabric covers the banquettes, an area towards the back has been designated a Champagne lounge and the walls are rendered a subtle pale stone.