Canto Corvino, Spitalfields Review ★★★★★

There are good dishes, and then there are dishes like this. Conversation is abandoned. Wine is forgotten. You're torn between giving your friend a bite as proof, or keeping it all. This was the case with an ambrosial pumpkin cannelloni we had this week at Canto Corvino, a new modern Italian restaurant in Spitalfields. Sweet, smoky and implausibly rich: we're still dreaming about it...

Canto Corvino was opened in September 2015 by the owners of the popular Manicomio restaurants in Chelsea and the Square Mile. The restaurant was heaving at 9 15 on a Wednesday. There were a few city boys, but mainly well-dressed couples. It's a gorgeous place, well-lit (i.e wonderfully dim) and spacious. The decor is industrial-cool, but warm: leather banquettes, brass fittings and dark wood. The waiters are wonderfully friendly. Make sure to have a cocktail at the bar before your meal: we loved the Waikiki: gin, blackberries, pineapple and Prosecco.

The food was great, but not all of it as good as The Cannelloni. We started with a dish of purple figs, walnuts and blue Buffalo cheese which was good, but didn't need the quinoa. The Sicilian red prawn, chilli and tomato arancini, served atop slicks of saffron custard, were stellar. But the duck tortelli in tomato sauce was dull; flavourless even. We wished we'd gone for red mullet bucatini instead.

In all, though, we left happy, full and wishing we had room for the salted chocolate delizia. A fantastic addition to the neighbourhood.