More gusto required

Gibson Square is one of the finest in Islington. I used to live there a few years ago when you could buy a house, go for a night out at Screen on the Green, have a few drinks and a three-course meal, and still have change out of a million pounds. Gibson Square also has the added advantage of being imprinted on the memory of all taxi drivers - Manor House to Gibson Square is the first route they learn doing the Knowledge.

Theberton Street joins Gibson Square to Upper Street. For some reason, all shops in Upper Street have now got to be restaurants or estate agents. I am going to put the two together one day and call it Hotplate and DesRes-iato; you'll be able to go there and eat yourself out of house and home.

METROGUSTO is in Theberton Street, only a few yards from Upper Street. Its premises used to be a large antique shop but a few years ago it was converted into an elegant Italian restaurant called Maremma, which has now given way to Metrogusto.

This is even more Italian. There is an extensive, exclusively Italian wine list through which you can be guided by the extremely charming Italian host. There are vast portraits of Italian-looking people on the walls.

Metrogusto is everything a friendly local trattoria ought to be, let down, on the night we were there, only by the cooking.

My companion, a doctor, described in gory detail just how bloody she wanted her calf 's liver. Broadly, it sounded as though she wanted it available for George Best in case he needed another transplant. But it came done way beyond well.

I had the special, a baby chicken smothered in a pungent Italian cheese. It sounded wonderful in the mouth of the restaurateur, but was completely uncheesy in the mouth of the diner.

The accompanying sauté potatoes were boiled new potatoes which had glanced at the olive oil bottle on the way to the plate. A good Sunday roast, perhaps, but nothing like as exciting as I had been led to believe.

For starters, fellow diners spoke well of the gnocchi, and a salad of grilled pears, rucola and pecorino cheese. But to compare to Whites, I selected warm green asparagus with quails eggs. The asparagus was all right, but the quail's eggs came fried. This was a novelty to me, and not an improvement on lightly boiled.

I did enjoy another novelty - Parmesan ice cream. I suppose it's not as famous yet as vanilla or tutti-frutti, but it could catch on.

I liked the ambience at Metrogusto-We bumped into old friends and loved the guy running it. Three courses, with excellent wine and coffee, came out at £40 a head.

If they got Marco Pierre White to lend a hand in the kitchen, it might be even better. MarcoGusto, we could call it.

Metrogusto
Theberton Street, London, N1 0QY