Mostly just a damp squib

Here is another location that has seen off restaurants: 33, Fleur and Petrus (albeit to bigger and better things). Now it's another upmarket Italian, brought to us by one of the industry's heavy hitters, Claudio Pulze.

Although it would appear to share a philosophy with Iniga, it doesn't pull it off to anything like the same extent.

Presentation comes across as overwrought: profligate blobs of reduced balsamic and basil oil in virtually every dish, whether they belonged or not (definitely not in the case of salmon stuffed with ricotta).

Innovation results in anomalies: my tuna topped with foie gras, for instance, a weird collision of cremated fish and raw liver. Staff - to a man knowledgeable, helpful, cheerful - whisked it away. Sadly its return appearance wasn't much improved: tuna cold inside, liver shrivelled, rosemary roast potatoes raw.

But I loved my 'risotto carbonara', a decadent, heady dish featuring cream, bacon and lashings of shaved black truffle (though the white Alba truffle is more usual with risotto); and 'maccheroncini' (actually rigatoni) with aged pecorino were punchily good. With its high ceilings and corridor shape, this room needs fireworks in the kitchen to merit devotion. This, however, was mostly just damp squib.

A meal for two with wine, water and service costs about £120. 33 St James's Street SW1.Tel: 020 7930 7100. Tube: Green Park

Ristorante Fiore
33 St James's Street, SW1