Zafferano

Opened in 1995 on a Lowndes Street corner, Zafferano was the room that introduced London to regional Italian cooking before the city had vocabulary for it — Lombard risotto, Piedmontese vitello tonnato, the pasta course as the centre of gravity rather than the prelude. Founder Giorgio Locatelli left for Locanda in 2002, but the kitchen held; current chef Daniele Camera maintains the regional rotation, the bread cart still arrives with the menus, and the Belgravia residents who booked their first table the year it opened still have the same Friday lunch. Reads in the Da Giacomo Milano register.