Babbo

I had a superb lunch today at Babbo - babbo means daddy in Italian, and with the wall of family photos and charming staff, it did have a homely feel.

First, we tried a special cheese made by a family of cheesemakers in Italy to the specifications of head chef Carlo Scotto. It's a 50:50 mix of cow and sheep milk so had an aspect of that crunch and tang characteristic of parmesan but also an interesting sheepiness (like pecorino) and subtle overtone of truffle.

I started with seared scallops, elegantly prepared with a delicious browning, served with a (slightly weird) purple cauliflower puree, piquant beetroot and very pretty bows of home-made pasta.

I loved the squid-ink black tagliatelle which was tossed with spicy crab meat. When I asked Carlo Scotto how to reproduce it at home, he said I should practise every day: make the pasta, get the best olive oil available, and hand-pick the meat from the best crab available - maybe one day!

For dessert, I really liked the burrata which was delicately encased in milk skin, and served with a strawberry sauce and fruit. The creamy cheese went very well with the fresh fruit and tangy sauce. I couldn't resist trying the profiteroles too - a yummy and decadent treat!

Mozzarella & more

Last Friday, I went to check out Mozzarella & more on King's Road, the latest opening from 'Made in Italy', a family-run group sharing their love for southern-Italian cuisine. The restaurant was made up to look like a traditional trattoria, with their fresh fish proudly displayed in the window and their vegetables and meats hanging over a deli counter filled with delicious-looking food. It was very popular, with a good buzz of people, and the charming staff made for a great atmosphere.

I was pleased to have some proper olives, boquerones and good bread to whet my appetite, before tucking into an amazing platter of mozzarella, burrata, ricotta, caponata, artichokes and Parma ham. The cheeses are made locally, at a kitchen in Battersea, so they were wonderfully fresh - I loved the creamy burrata especially. The bread was great topped with caponata and rich ricotta, or simply dipped in olive oil and balsamic.

Crispy prawns and squid were well done, with a nice, light batter and a chilli mayo, but I wasn't so keen on crunching through the prawn shell.

The highlight of the meal were ravioli stuffed with crab and Amalfi lemon ricotta - the subtle lemon aroma really complimented the fresh Devon crab meat. They were served with a beautiful cherry tomato sauce and fennel for a nice crunch of texture.

Dessert was a tough choice, with a mouth-watering array of cakes and puddings - a different selection every day, depending on what the chef felt like making! I went for the 'caprese al limon', a fantastic lemon cake with a distinct almond flavour and soft spongy texture - very good.

Everything on the menu sounded tasty, so I hope to go back try some more of their homemade pasta, local cheese and fresh fish. Delizioso!

Degò

After a wonderful evening at Curzon Soho, watching the UK premiere of Thérèse Desqueyroux including a Q&A with Audrey Tautou as part of their 'Rendez-Vous With French Cinema', I had a delicious meal at Degò, an Italian restaurant and winebar a matter of minutes from the super-busy Oxford Circus.

The menu was full of traditional dishes and flavours from Italy. I started off with aubergine parmigiana - this version was partially de-constructed  with a beautifully sweet tomato sauce accompanying crispy aubergine interleaved with gooey mozzarella. It was certainly tasty, although a little too oily.

I was very happy with the house-made fettuccine for my mains. The pasta was perfect, just al dente, and with creamy fresh burrata and confit tomatoes was a pleasure to eat. It's a wonderfully simple combo, so I think I'll be trying to emulate it at home!

I finished with some great house-made gelato: peach, raspberry and pear - a refreshing end to a highly enjoyable meal.

Cantinetta, Dean Street Townhouse, & Maltby Street Market

Despite not being in Puglia after dramatically missing our flight, we've still managed to have a delightfully foodie week. Even, a very Italian one.

On Thursday night, I went to Cantinetta, where I had some great Italian food!

I tried some salmon and sea bass carpaccio, with a strawberry vinegar dressing. I found this too acidic and overpowering, which was a shame since I couldn't taste the delicate fish.

Also as antipasta, I had some burrata with sun dried tomatoes. The cheese was wonderfully creamy, but not too runny, which was great. The tomatoes were full of flavour and went really well with the buratta.

I had some great prawns in a lovely rich garlicy sauce, with some crisp bread.

Following the seafood theme, I tasted some scallops with endive salad. The scallops were amazing because they had only been very briefly seared, so tasted very fresh.

For my main, I had a seafood risotto, which was delicious! The rice had a good bite to it, maybe slightly too much of a bite, but it was quite creamy, and fishy which was nice. I liked the chopped herbs in it.

My mum had lobster spaghetti, which was of course indulgently rich, with soft and flavoursome meat and al dente pasta.

I also had some delicious fried courgette as a chip-substitute, which were lovely and crispy.

Yesterday afternoon, I visited Dean Street Townhouse for a spot of afternoon tea. I chose some buttered crumpets, which I hadn't had for ages, so it was a nice treat. I also had some scones with clotted cream and lovely strawberry and raspberry jam - delicious!

Finally, today I visited Maltby Street Market - sort of a close (in location and food quality) rival to the incredibly well known but slightly too touristy Borough Market. It was a bit more of a trek from London Bridge, but definitely worth it. We got there a bit late (it starts shutting down at around 2pm), but bought some fantastic 17 month comte from the Borough Cheese Company, which is aged in a fort in eastern-France. I also went to Niel's Yard Dairy, where I tried some cheese called St John, which had a great tangy flavour, and was quite smelly and creamy.