Size doesn't matter at little Italian gem

We decided to check out teeny little Trenta. This minuscule space used to house the long-established Al San Vincenzo, where local buffers could fill up on pricey Southern Italian cooking.

New owners Daniel Camerini (front of house) and Silvano Mazzoli (kitchen) have brought a small blast of modernity into the room - an elaborate mirror reflects some rather curious paintings - while focusing on some very decent Italian cooking, this time with a Northern slant.

Ingredients are robust: oxtail with gnocchi; crescentine (little deep-fried parcels, like gnocco - not gnocchi - or Liguria's sgabei) stuffed with pig's trotter on a bed of earthy lentils; ox-tongue with salsa verde.

Straccetti - thin, torn strips - of spinach pasta come with a ragù of duck that lacks punch, but we liked the crescentine.

Baby squid - totanetti - come with their translucent little bodies stuffed with sweet crab in a good tomato sauce; more of the same come spiked with chilli in a dish of mixed seafood - velvety mussels, prawns, rather overcooked scallops - given a moreish bite with the addition of some pleasingly chewy grains of spelt.

More deep fried parcels - sweet chestnut pastry filled with crema - is not the smartest way to end what was otherwise a captivating meal.
A meal for two with wine, water and service costs about £85. 30 Connaught Street W2. Tel: 020 7262 9623. Tube: Marble Arch

Trenta
Connaught Street, London, W2 2AF