Cucinetta Ristorante & Bar

The gleaming lights of the Woolwich pub are just a glance to the left. But this tucked-away, glass-walled cottage offers a more beautifully lit vista - direct sight-lines across the sparkling harbour to the starry cityscape and graceful arc of the Bridge. It's as easy on the eye as Cucinetta's mostly straightforward Italian menu. Among antipasti, pasta and main courses, delicate kingfish tartare with salmon pearls and calamari pieces tingles with a squeeze of lemon, while cheesy baked zucchini flowers are a little more wickedly luscious. Lamb shank on polenta with a chianti reduction, and a gutsy, tomatoey seafood chowder have full-on Italian flavours down pat, although house-made parsley linguine, flecked with sweet crab flakes, competed too fiercely with a garlic, basil and tomato soffritto. But it's chef Vincenzo Mazzotta's practised hand with risotto that wins the day - perhaps a veal ragu, mushroom, celery and truffle special. Service is efficient rather than imaginative, leaving views and food to steal the glory.