Brutto

Mixing a come-as-you-please vibe with upbeat cooking, loud music, a sense of fun and unquestionable value (note the £5 Negronis and spritzes) – the late Russell Norman’s formula for a good restaurant was always guaranteed to win over the local populace. Now run by Russell’s wife and son, Brutto is as popular as ever, with the checked tablecloths, Chianti bottles and typewritten menu (in Italian and English) summoning up the spirit of a traditional Florentine trattoria.

There is much to applaud here. A plate of anchovies with cold butter curls and St John sourdough is a good starting point, and we are big fans of the pork tonnato with caperberries. Elsewhere, there’s exemplary pasta (perhaps pappardelle with rabbit and lemon or maltagliati with oxtail ragù), plus a punchy, fall-apart beef shin and peppercorn stew, and an 800g Florentine T-bone steak that was shared by three contented diners and pronounced ‘fantastic’ – even the house red they washed it down with ‘was more than acceptable’. Brutto's roast potatoes are also 'something special', too. 

Desserts are no slouch either. We can recommend the tiramisu, but it's also worth looking out for the panna cotta with English strawberries or poached apricots with aged Parmesan. The young front-of-house team is superbly drilled, and there’s an attractive list of mainly (but not exclusively) Tuscan and other Italian wines.