A lovely Italian Restaurant in Liverpool

I love Italian food. I am not a huge fan of pasta but the way Italians deal with meat, fish and seafood makes me smile - a gorgeous bit of protein, a sauce or dressing with vibrant flavours, and that's it. If you want potatoes or vegetables then order them separately. Great. So, when we ventured up to Liverpool, and fancied some fish, we googled 'fish restaurant' and one of the top results was San Carlo. So off we went. It is a splendid restaurant, with a gorgeous cocktail bar greeting you on arrival. We were a bit early for dinner so sat at the bar for cocktails and there we had nibbles of huge olives, socca and arancini to keep us occupied. We ordered sardines and seafood salad for starters - beautifully fresh, well cooked and plentiful....mains were five kinds of grilled fish and seafood and veal scallopine with a wild mushroom sauce. The side of sauté potatoes were crisp and delicious. We were so impressed by the generosity of the servings and the quality of the ingredients and the service was warm and helpful. Our desired digestif wasn't available so we were recommended Amaro Montenegro - warm with violets it made Fernet Branca seem very harsh. This restaurant may not suit those looking for an ultra modern experience but for good honest but refined Italian food it was fabulous. £120 for two courses each, three cocktails, a bottle of wine and two digestifs. Thoroughly recommended.

www.sancarlo.co.uk