Locanda Locatelli: the menu is a varied treat of little treasures

It’s almost hard to believe this place is 15 years old: most restaurants fade with time, quietly forgotten and left to their devices. Not so with Locanda Locatelli, which always seem to have a light shining on it as someone new stumbles across the place and declares it the best Italian in town. Perhaps the only sign it's been around a while is the dated website.

Just off Portman Square, it offers a high-end homage to Italy, preferring to indulge an instinct for technique rather than old-school charm. If you want authentic, rustic plates, this is the wrong place to go. Despite being in a hotel, usually the places culinary ambition goes to die, Giorgio Locatelli reaches broadly across his country for ingredients, ideas and inspiration, never sticking too closely to one style, and accordingly the menu is a varied treat of different little treasures.

This, of course, comes as a price: a fillet of wild sea bass baked in a salt and herb crust might be a straightforward pleasure, expertly cooked, but it’s also the best part of £37. There’s soup at £14.50. If you don’t mind, or can convince someone else to pay, it’s an absolute blinder. Just do pay up, whatever they ask: years ago the restaurant manager took a man's wife hostage on her 29th birthday when her husband objected to the price of truffles – and they still said the food was divine.

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