San Carlo Liverpool

Head to any of the ristorantes in the acclaimed and award-winning family-run San Carlo Group and you know you’re in for exceptional ingredients, artfully prepared, served in super chic surroundings. Here, there are opulent dining booths and a stylish bar for bevs after.

Food wise, there are posh pizzas (black truffle features alongside porcini mushrooms and Caciocavallo cheese from southern Italy on the pizza tartufo) and there’s pasta, including classic clam spaghetti vongole and indulgent lobster ravioli. Gran pasta plates for two or more to share include frutti de mare seafood spaghetti and “Penne Romanoff”, which comes with its own back story: it’s a dish created by the personal chef of the last Russian Czar, Nicholas II, who escaped to Italy before the Bolshevik revolution in 1918 and combined his new-found Italian cuisine with the culinary flavours of Imperial Russia. The result? Salmon and a touch of tomato and cream, flambéed in vodka. There’s also plenty of grilled fish and seafood (including Dover sole, monkfish “Aurora” and grilled langoustines) and meats (lots for the steak lover) or, for authentically Italian dishes, think pollo Milanese breadcrumbed chicken and Saltimbocca alla Romana: ham-wrapped Tuscan veal cooked in white wine, sage and butter.

San Carlo wouldn’t be San Carlo without a well-sourced wine list featuring the best of Italy and its islands, plus plenty of Prosecco and, of course, the makings of an Aperol Spritz or two.