La Rosa Bar & Pizza

La Rosa is moodily dark. So dark they should issue night-vision goggles with the menu. There's a more brightly lit long table at the entrance, where you get the reflected glare of the historic Strand Arcade, but if you want the full dimmed experience, then inside is where the action is. La Rosa channels medieval church in its decor and atmosphere (and service certainly flickers like a candle in a cathedral). Pizza is one of the big drawcards, and there's something enchanting about the almost grainy crusts, especially when topped with thin slices of chargrilled zucchini and prawns. Earthly rather than divine inspiration - namely chef Nino Zoccali's mamma - fires a spaghettini dish with braised chicken and rosemary sauce. It's good enough to put a scare through the camp of believers who argue chicken and pasta don't mix. Drunken baby octopus is really, really soft, with a light tomato sauce dotted with capers and shavings of fennel that's perfectlyheavenly.