IDDU, South Kensington ★★★★★

Anyone looking to while away the summer afternoons in West London over some carefully crafted Sicilian cuisine need look no further than IDDU, South Kensington’s new neighbourhood eatery. A friendly and chic punto d'incontro IDDU provides a genuine meeting place, channelling all the hospitality implicit in traditional Sicilian dining. 

The brainchild of native culinary impresario Luca Del Bono, IDDU combines elegance with hospitality and invites diners to stop in for an invigorating breakfast or an intimate dinner: there's an alfresco area in front to relax in on summer afternoons. 

Simple and hearty Sicilian favourites populate the menu, along with more complex and innovative dishes, and drawing upon all aspects of the Aeolian isles’ culturally diverse history. 

Among Palermo-born head chef Francesca D’Amico’s creations are enticing dishes of marinated shrimp on cannellini beans, or the likes of kamut linguine with organic Sicilian tomato sauce and caponata alla Siciliana. The tuna tartare was fresh and light, though slightly lacking in seasoning, the pesto pasta, served with pistachios, refreshingly aldente; the seafood risotto elegant and rich. 

The menu focuses on fresh, natural flavours and healthy ingredients, served up with a 'contemporary Mediterranean flair', and they're achieving precisely this – for an authentic Italian eatery they've got it absolutely on the nose (though you're also paying through it, as the menu certainly isn't local piazza prices). 

IDDU invite diners to wash down its authentic culinary offerings with one of the red and white wines on offer, selected from a well-curated list of vintage and limited edition bottles, and sourced from some of the most storied vineyards on the region's hot and rugged escarpments. Artisan coffee made from specially-sourced beans and prepared using a unique, manually operated roaster is also available to round off the evening meal.

In the early evenings, IDDU also serves up a traditional Italian aperitivo, combining their exciting cocktail menu with complementary nibbles between the hours of 5pm and 7pm. Cocktails range from the likes of hot tomato vodka, a London spritz (combining prosecco with rhubarb liqueur and soda), a refreshingly cucumber and rosemary gin & tonic and an enticing collection of prosecco mimosas. The South Kensington Club's own juices are also on offer, cold pressed and hand picked from locally sourced ingredients, along with one, three and five day cleanse packages and tonic shots. 

Head to IDDU to experience the the warmth of authentic Sicilian hospitality and see Mediterranean food treated as an art form: it's a welcome addition to South Kensington's culinary scene.