Moscow-meets-Amalfi at this Russian-backed Italian, which - on the plate at least – does a pretty good job of whisking you away to an Italian trattoria. Cavernous Mayfair-by-numbers interiors (Imposing reception desk? Tick. Plush beige seats? Tick. Columns, muted colour scheme and lots of giant chandeliers? Tick, tick, tick.) are a million miles away from an alfresco table at a piazza, but it’s the quality of ingredients and an expert pasta chef that does the talking here.
We kicked off with a creamy, oozing buratta with cherry tomatoes and some exquisite wafer-thin coppa, before being bowled over by the quality of the freshly made pasta. Bright yellow tagliatelle swimming in a buttery sauce and topped with a decadent, perfumed and nutty black truffle, and a comparatively rustic (but devilishly hard to perfect) pici cacio e pepe – tagiatelle with pecorino Romano and black pepper – were truly bellisimo. The lengthy menu also features a host of trattoria staples – veal Milanese, frittura mista - as well as over a dozen pizzas. For desert, hazelnut semi-freddo is a good pick. This being Mayfair, service is top-notch and there’s a sommelier to help guide you through the Italian wine list, although none of this comes for cheap.