My colleague Caroline and I can talk about restaurants for hours and during once such conversation we realised that a) neither of us had been to Bocca di Lupo and b) that we were both dying to go. So we pencilled in a lunch and went last week.

Bocca di Lupo is a well known Italian restaurant in Soho with its own gelato place across the road. The chef patron Jacob Kenedy is also the author of my pasta bible; The Geometry of Pasta. It is a mystery why I haven’t been here before. And after this fabulous lunch I realised how much I have been missing out by not going, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I start going all the time now to make up for not going in the past…

The menu is quite extensive and I could literally eat everything on it, but in the end we managed to settle for a great spread. As well as a short description of each dish the menu also features the region of origin for the dish, which I thought very interesting.

We started off with some bread of course, and lovely buttery olives. The foccacia with caramelised onions was my favourite.

The raw Sicilian red prawns were lovely and sweet and flavoured lightly with orange zest. Absolutely gorgeous! And the portion was very generous too.

I can never resist stuffed courgette flowers and these with mozzarella and anchovies was an utter delight. Crisp on the outside and not too gooey on the inside with lovely robust flavours.

Thinly sliced courgette with chilli, garlic and parsley was a fresh addition. Hotter than expected but full of flavour.

Barbecued lamb sweetbreads and artichoke with olive oil and lemon was also amazing. The sweetbreads were tender and melt-in-the-mouth delicious and the artichokes made a great contrast with its charred flavours.

Another lovely dish was the linguine with dark crab meat and tomato. It was creamy yet light and absolutely divine.

I was really impressed with Bocca di Lupo; the food was excellent, the staff friendly and efficient and the atmosphere great and bustling.

Bocca di Lupo, 12 Archer Street, London W1D 7BB