Putney, London, has a lot going for it. One of those things are Italian restaurants and one of the best is the newly refurbished The Italian Boys on Putney High Street. They have a good menu with a large selection of food to choose from. It takes us ages to choose what we want but the staff are patient and don’t rush us. We order some prosecco to start and it is very good wine. Some of the best prosecco I have ever tasted.

We finally decide on our starters: I have the Calamari Grigliati Con Polentina Fritta: Fresh grilled squid, pan fried polenta stuffed with peas & mint, slow roasted herbs & cherry tomato dressing and my colleague has Gamberoni Al Prosciutto Croccante: King prawns wrapped with crunchy Parma ham & lentils sauté. The calamari dish is superb, just make sure you add all of the ingredients together and don’t eat them separately. The chef really knows what he/she is doing and has an excellent grasp of flavours and the knowledge to put them together to make a stunning dish. I was incredibly impressed. The prawn starter was also superb, the sauce it came in was amazing and this dish made even the humble lentil into an ingredient worthy of a Michelin-starred restaurant. We cannot praise the starters highly enough: just absolutely amazing.

For our main we had the Merluzzo Con Pancetta Croccante E Uova Di Quaglia: Pan fried filet of cod wrapped in crunchy pancetta served with clams & quail eggs with spinach & butter sauce and the Ravioli Di Zucca Con Pancetta: Ricotta & pumpkin ravioli, pancetta & rocket with butter sauce. The mains were just as good as the starters: absolutely amazing. The cod dish is unique and delicious and the ravioli is first-class. The food is so good that this restaurant is unforgettable, you think about the meal you had long after and you just have to go back for more.

For dessert I had ice-cream and my colleague had the Torta Della Nonna. The ice-cream was great. You get three scoops and I had chocolate with cookies, strawberry and a very alcoholic rum. This was superb ice-cream, showing that Italian Boys even gets it right on the simple things. The Torta Della Nonna is a Tuscan dessert known as ‘grandmother’s cake’, it was also brilliant.

The Italian Boys is a must go to restaurant for all Londoners, not just those in Putney. Both the food and the service is first-class.