Italian's upper crust

Via Condotti on Conduit Street: clever, huh? And that little namecheck of Rome's famous shopping street isn't the only clever thing about this new Italian on a site that has huckled off a number of pretenders, including Nico Ladenis.

For a start, there's the menu - vividly, unapologetically Italian, without even a nod to the Anglicised trat. So you get intriguing pasta shapes such as candele - like long, thin, openended cannelloni - and rustic ingredients such as rabbit and long-stewed baby octopus.

Breads roam over Italy, from Ligurian rosemary-scented, home-baked focaccia and Sicilian pane casarau to unsalted Tuscan bread (all fresher than you often get in the homeland).

Chef-patron Pasquale Amico's cooking is assured, performing a shade below the capital's finest Italians, but pretty good nonetheless: a succulent bunny was stuffed (as is currently modish) with its own innards and rosy little lamb chops came with balsamic onions. Only a somewhat workman-like prawn risotto let the side down.

The place is understatedly clever, too: a soothing palette of beiges with quality linen and vintage posters - just the right sort of luxury for an area infested with the Euro-loaded. A joint venture between front of house Richard Martinez, Amico from Campania, and redoubtable restaurateur Claudio Pulze, this operation has the legs to keep on running.

Via Condotti
Conduit Street, London, W1S 2XS