Food: La Figa

Not being much of a fan of the cuisine, Wapping's Il Bordello was the only place I'd really go Italian food. Brilliant service, lovely food and reasonable prices could be a few of the reasons why, but apart from these it also had the magical ability of always giving us a good time whenever we visited.

Sister to the above but located in a more accessible (well, for me anyway) Limehouse, La Figa is, in effect, another chance for fans to grab some blummin' great Italian food. I've been wanting to give it a go since it opened quite a while ago and tonight I got to.

Today, we shared the Garlic Pizza Bread, Grilled Mozzarella in Breadcrumbs and Avocado and Prawns for starters, while I plumped for the Smoked Salmon and Cream Pasta for the main. All were wonderfully delicious and generous, with the majority of us unable to clean our plates. Service was just as good as that of its sister restaurant. It cost about the same as Il Bordello too: today came to a very reasonable £25 per head (which includes drinks, although only two were ordered).

I found the restaurant itself much more attractive than Il Bordello. It had a nice clean line to it (unlike the older restaurant's more traditional theme) but it's main trick was to have an open front that allowed the tables to spill out onto the promenade outside. It was perfect for a warm Summer's evening like tonight and the ambiance, as well as the general Canary Wharf-ish location, now makes La Figa my new most favourite Italian place.

If you're out and about in the area you could do much worse, although seeing how transport links to the place suck unfortunately it may end up being one of those hidden gems most won't get to try.