Old world romance is rife at Italian fine-diner Pendolino, in the historic Victorian arcade The Strand. Wait staff expertly steer you through the menu, and for anyone who has a copy of chef-owner Nino Zoccali’s Pasta Artigiana, a bowl of pasta is the natural place to start. Gnocchi can be a gamble, but at Pendolino, ricotta replaces potato for a pillowy light dumpling topped with a spectacular White Rocks veal ragu. The execution is masterful. Wild weed pasta is a sublime loose bundle of spaghetti strands woven together by sweet walnut-sized pieces of ground barramundi and Spencer Gulf prawns, and seasoned with a lick of garum, a salty Roman fish sauce. Silky pockets of beef agnolotti leave the table swooning. The pasta, filled with tender slow-cooked beef, is drizzled with a thick beef jus emulsified with herb butter. Fregola and seafood shows off a bit of Sardinian flair, with the pearls of house-made fregola a bed for carefully filleted sardines, tiny baby scallops, steamed mussels and wedges of calamari, dotted with pine nuts and currants for texture and sweetness. Milk-braised pork belly is cooked so slowly, the meat can be almost eaten with a spoon.

The sommelier rips off his glasses in delight when presented with the challenge of a bottle of wine that suits two completely different tastes and offers a bright and savoury CDC bianco, a refreshing blend of indigenous Sicilian grapes with a classic oaky chardonnay. It’s a delightful match, easy drinking but elegant alongside a menu that’s full of finesse. A treasure chest of chocolate truffles is presented on a trolley alongside an impressive selection of brandy and cognac, before a dessert that wows, a silky meringue cradling a scoop of pumpkin ice cream, doused in a pastel-green pistachio cream. Pendolino more than deserves this acclaimed position.