Olivomare SW1

If anyone wants to see how London restaurants have evolved over the past two decades, they could do much worse than a brief walking tour of the various branches of the Olivo franchise. The original restaurant near Victoria, offering Sardinian specialities, seemed almost exotic when it opened back in 1991. Its tasty cooking still makes it popular today, but the design seems very basic by current standards. Half a decade later, a heart-of-Belgravia pizzeria offshoot, Olivetto, followed – its minimalist interior shows how things had moved on. And now there’s Olivomare,– with its striking monochrome styling, an outstanding example of contemporary restaurant design.

Once you know that Olivomare is a ‘fish specialist’ – and just off Chester Square to boot – it’s tempting to assume that it’s going to be a very fancy place, with prices to match. It turns out however that this is more a very superior contemporary trattoria where the food all happens to be fishy rather than some would-be temple-of-gastronomy with a menu full of obscure and overpriced specialities.

In fact, you wouldn’t need to spend anything approaching a fortune here to find yourself sitting very happily among the Belgravia set. We tried two sorts of pasta, as well as sea bass with couscous (also available from the hyper-elegant adjoining deli/wine-shop, Olivino), and shared a large portion of tiramisu. Everything was really very good. Downsides? Well, they charged for the bread: the only possible off-note in what was otherwise a uniformly charming dining experience.