The prices are not shy but this is high-end stuff, prepared with a puritan respect for tradition, as simply as possible but with expertise oozing from every bite.
"The menu is broad and detailed, following the proper antipasto/secondo piatto template, with salads, pizzas and pastas also thrown in. The tagliere di manzo al forno (wafer-thin slices of Aberdeen Angus marinated in olive oil then flash-roasted) [was] laughably delicious, all the more so for its rarity on Scottish menus. For mains, the standard was matched by the spaghettini with chilli and anchovy, an essay in how something simple can be truly exemplary, and a superb pork-sausage pizza. Everything, in fact, was first class.
"The queue for a table snaked down the stairs, quite unsurprisingly, for this is a bright, vital, profoundly engaging establishment with impressively high ambitions and cooking that exceeds all cafe standards; and even, I'd imagine, the expectations of V&C veterans. The minute they move it to Glasgow I'll be there every afternoon."
Alan Brown