The Sardine in the Box: Lena, London, UK

Lena is an Italian restaurant with a basement live Jazz bar in Shoreditch. The first time I went there I thought it looked quite pretentious with its white interior design and capitone sofas. However, each time I ate there I enjoyed myself, even if I did not always make the best choice. The menu seems pricey, but Lena becomes affordable if you book with Toptable and get a 50% discount.

Focaccia with olive oil and balsamic vinegar...Useless dietetically speaking but like peanuts, when you start eating this, it is difficult to stop.

I did not eat by myself all the dishes that follow, we were a party of four. For starters, we had pan-fried scallops with pancetta (what a lovely combination), char-grilled baby squids and burrata cheese. Burrata cheese is evil. It is incredibly creamy as it is made by stuffing mozarella cheese with more mozzarella cheese and cream (and not the reduced-fat type cream). Yes! Fat is good. Honestly I do not see the point of the carasau bread with the burrata that is best eaten on his own (or with a splash of olive oil) in one bite. If you have a big mouth.

Pan-seared Devonshire scallops, crispy pancetta, wild garlic leaves

Chargrilled baby squid with sliced fennel, garlic, chili, rocket and parmesan

Burrata cheese with carasau bread, cherry tomatoes and basil dressing

I ordered a veal loin escallop for my main as veal is THE Italian meat. I was quite disappointed as I found the meat dry and the risotto was bland and soggy.

Char-grilled veal loin escallop with saffron risotto

Other mains were a beautiful grilled seabass, a shellfish padella and a char-grilled Aberdeen sirloin steak. I think everyone enjoyed his food. -1 for the service however, as the steak was supposed to come with spring greens, and did not. We had to ask twice to finally get the greens...after most of the steak had been eaten.