Angelina - Shoreditch, London

What happens when you take some of the most accomplished kitchen hands in London (with stints at River Café, Bocca di Lupo, Daphne's, Zoilo and Café Murano, to name a few) and bring them together in the east? Well, more than one culture clash, for a start… Owner Joshua Owens-Baigler, head chef Daniel Ceforo and sous chef Robin Beparry have created a rather special restaurant on Dalston Lane. We were a bit sceptical when we heard that they'd be fusing Japanese and Italian cuisines, so pencilled in a visit and had our minds blown. 

The forty-cover space is nestled in between Little Duck picklery and Allpress Espresso's coffee roastery. Rather nondescript from the outside, guests enter into a spare, austere room with a dramatically monochromatic colour scheme. Orchestrated by London's Anna Owen Designs, it blends Japanese influences like lantern pendant lighting, sushi-style counter dining and even a karaoke room with more European ones like classic stemmed glassware and black-and-white photography. 

We opted for the five course tasting menu which a barrage of fitto misto and raw small plates. Tempura broccoli rabe, pork croquettes with tonkotsu sauce and artichoke with popcorn mayo were all perfectly crisp and devoid of grease. Crudos of tuna, veal, sea bream and scallop were consistently excellent but upstaged by Cornish uni served in the urchin's shell with aged soy and yuzu. A little ramen-ish dish of yolk-yellow tagliolini topped with lobster, pork and quail's egg was overpoured with a rich ramen brother. A larger plate of chicken breast with marsala, morels and nira was butter-deliquescent, interspersed by generous gracile shards of the bird's skin. 

Dinner came to a round full stop with profiteroles of yuzu, white chocolate and matcha. At £38 for five courses, we'll be heading back soon to see how the menu changes with the seasons.