Cafe Latte

Cafe Latte's facelift means white walls, a new bar and a huge, beautiful suspended hoop light fitting designed by Marcos Davidson, decorated with birds and flowers. Loyal Latte regulars, some of whom have been coming since the early '90s, have been happy to reacquaint themselves with the menu's unpretentious, authentic, boldly flavoured dishes from the Puglia region, described by owner Luca Lorusso as the Japan of Italy. Thus, there's a focus on seafood, often served raw, as in tuna carpaccio with sweet-and-sour cauliflower. There's also crumbed, baked, smoked sardines sandwiched with caramelised onion, pinenuts and sultanas; fragrant seafood stew; or tender, white, paper-thin poached veal with anchovy aioli balanced by tart tomatoes, olives and capers. Gently rich veal ragu pennoni and soft, deep-flavoured ox cheek favour meat lovers, too. Traditional Italian desserts like tiramisu, panna cotta and zeppole never fail to please, especially the gooey cooked-to-order chocolate pudding that regulars happily wait to have delivered steaming fresh.