Briciole

Editors Review

Near Marylebone station, a bright former boozer that's now a 'salumeria' and restaurant, run by the same people as Latium; some of its dishes are of a very high standard.

How long can a menu be? How many dishes can you squeeze in to two pages of A4 (plus blackboard specials)? And why would you want to do that? As we opened the carte of this Italian newcomer, five minutes from Marylebone Station, a feeling of panic set in: we were there to have a chat, not a culinary convention, and going through this was going to take till Christmas. So, the waitress was summoned and asked to do a selection, which, with a bit of negotiation, she kindly did.

So we got to sample a good range of the 'salumi' (charcuterie) and cheeses which are what this bright former corner pub is, largely, all about. And all very good too. There's also an interesting range of pastas, all made - we learn from reading the divine Ms Maschler's piece in the Standard - at the parent restaurant, Latium. Given the culinary eminence of that restaurant near Oxford Street, we - just like Ms M, in fact - found our pastas just a bit of a let-down. Not bad, but a survey revealed that none of we three lunchers that day heard any celestial choirs singing. The meatballs we'd whimsically ordered to go with the pasta turned out to be more interesting.

But our best advice would be not to worry too much about the main courses, and to consider moving straight from the salumi to the dolci - the two aspects of eating here which might justify that trip up the Bakerloo. Boy, when we sampled the tiramisù, the cannoli and the sorbet, those hitherto silent choirs really got into their stride.