Caraffini Restaurant

"Completely enjoyable place to have a meal, fine food and excellent service. Will not miss an opportunity to dine there whenever in London."

Unless you can get here soon after it opens at 6:30, it is best to make a reservation, as everyone starts to pour in around 8 PM. It's hard to characterize the buzz and energy of this clean, well-lighted place, with over-arching palms and wicker-back chairs which provide comfort where the elite seem to eat, and all the male waiters (and they are only men) look like Goodfellas, and most of the male diners look like Michael Caine, Anthony Quinn, or Warren Christopher (the former US Secretary of State). The women range from first wives to trophies, and the coat check girl seemed to be the only female employee. Families fill up tables of 10, couples in their young twenties occupy the tables for two, and the occasional lone foodie eats alone -- I was not the only one. The people watching here is very highly rated, not for spotting celebrities, but for seeing all the quirky characters. My choices were a spinach and tomato salad with parmesan, linguini with a small 1/2 lobster to start (one of the specials), medallions of lamb over cooked spinach, and a side of rosemary sauteed potatoes, and an espresso and complimentary biscotti. To drink I had a glass of house red, and San Pellegrino sparkling. Total bill for one: �45. Closed Sundays.