Demartino

Styling themselves as a New York neighbourhood Italian restaurant, Demartino is situated on Great Portland Street. When we visited it was busy, with elderly couples, a bunch of friends, and a birthday party. Very much a low-key neighbourhood restaurant. Unfortunately, that meant we had a small table right in the middle of the restaurant, which meant we were on something of a busy thoroughfare with serving staff and fellow diners moving around close to us.

For our starters we picked courgette fries and arancini, or rather, one big arancino. The courgette fries were nicely seasoned, and were served in a cone — just like Belgian fries. The big arancino was served in a spicy sauce, that had a very nice strong tomato flavour.

As her main, my wife selected a ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach, served in a lovely butter and sage sauce. I had the wild mushroom risotto, with the rice just a little al dente. A decent sprinkling of Parmesan added the right level of cheesiness.

We had a lovely bottle of red wine to go with our excellent meal. The service at Demartino was good, and the atmosphere lively.

The only downside to our visit was the position of the table we were seated at, so if we returned we'd try to be seated elsewhere (almost anywhere else).

Courgette Fries

Arancino

Wild Mushroom Risotto

Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli