What started off as a girlie lunch, just coinciding with my birthday turned into a lunch for four and was sort of a birthday lunch as my lovely colleagues gave me a card and a gift. Thanks guys!

We decided on having both starter and main course as we were in no rush to get back to the office. Luckily July is pretty quiet. Three of us started off with the raw scallops flavoured with orange and vanilla salt and it was utterly delicious, fresh and fragrant.

Ria, less fond of raw seafood, opted for baked prawns instead which were also delicious. In fact, the whole crudo and antipasti menu looked wonderful.

We all had pasta for our main course, Rich and Caroline chose the crab and tomato linguine which looked really fresh and nice, but they were a little bit disappointed flavour wise.

Ria and I had the spaghetti Carbonara with lightly baked egg and truffle which sounded delicious. Unfortunately it was really oily and a bit too salty. I was quite disappointed but will give Massimo another chance as I know people who have had delicious pastas here.

The service was nice and efficient which weighed up a little bit and the art deco interior with pillars and large lamps is quite extraordinary and creates a nice setting for any meal.

Massimo, 10 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5AE