The conclusion from most restaurants I visit (and indeed review), is very simple, either I would return and highly recommend, or the inverse. With Cotidie, which a comrade and I visited for lunch at relatively short notice and with no pre-conceived ideas, the conclusion is much more ambiguous. Forget the hype (the owner is a celebrity TV chef with a two Michelin-starred restaurant in his native Italy), a considered assessment from our experience would be as follows: décor and presentation, superb; food, good, but not outstanding; likewise, wines; service, enthusiastic; pricing, reasonable enough; atmosphere, appalling. If I were to dwell on the first and last points, Cotidie has a beautifully furnished room, a distinct nod to Art Déco (admittedly very fashionable at present, but also timeless in its quality), from lamps to glassware on both the walls and the table, but what might work in a small and intimate setting, simply seems out of place in this venue. Put simply, Cotidie would almost certainly work better and ‘feel’ better if it existed in a much smaller format. In its current setting, the restaurant could perhaps seat 100 covers, but on a Friday lunchtime, there were barely 20. The waiters did a good job to appear busy and engaged, but the atmosphere seemed curiously stilted, almost as if people wanted to be able to enjoy themselves (or even raise their voices above a whisper), but didn’t quite feel as if they could, in such a beautiful location with so few people. This would perhaps be my key memory, perhaps unfortunate given that the food was pretty good, especially at £24.50 for a set lunch menu. Both my comrade and I opted for the Sicilian style baby octopus stew with polenta to start. Certainly a tempting option, but perhaps almost out-of-place in a location as grand as this. The dish, both in its hearty nature and in its presentation here (in a bowl, with lots of sauce and no decoration) was more akin to what one might find in a local Italian trattoria than in an excessively furnished déco-styled room. Beyond this observation, being critical, while the octopus was juicy and generous in quantity, the amount of polenta was stingy by comparison and rather salty too. Mains were a clear success though: my comrade’s Sardinian fergula (buckwheat-style pasta) with porcini was innovative and enhanced by the addition of the coffee flavouring. Similarly, my duck breast was tender and paired well with the mini vegetable lasagne which accompanied it, and was elegantly presented. Pinot Grigio (from the Alto Adige) and Chianti were good matches with the starter and main respectively, but we were disappointed by the general absence of carafes (now increasingly common elsewhere) from the menu, while just four half bottles were listed (two white, two red), and none at a competitive price. In conclusion, while Cotidie has the potential to be very good, there are many much better Italian dining options in central London…