A bowl of cacio e pepe can’t take singing lessons, it can’t dabble in DJing, and it definitely can’t go on Love Island. It’s hard for a cacio e pepe to become famous but somehow the brown crab version at Manteca has done it. The mega-rich golden bowl of tonnarelli has had a serious rep since Manteca’s Soho residency. These days, the restaurant’s permanent Shoreditch location also serves razor-thin prosciutto and duck fat pangrattato on top of ragu.

Ombra is that person in your friendship group who can pull off curtain bangs—really cool, but not trying too hard. It’s where we want to be every Friday night as bottles of wine are ferried to candlelit tables of four who are puncturing puffy gnocco fritto, and spritzes are delivered to couples dissecting a fried artichoke layer by layer. Expect your repressed hoarder tendencies to surface as you guard, sorry share, all the excellent food at this Hackney spot.

Bermondsey’s Cafe Murano nails the fine balance of being fancy but not uptight, and classy but not too polished. The Italian restaurant covers pretty much every type of situation. Intimate date night? Grab one of the secluded booths and fork at tender gnocchi. Boisterous catch-up with friends? Head to the bright, white-tiled main dining room. A low-key lunch? Ask for a table in the small, low-lit space towards the back and share a huge pork chop bathing in salty anchovy butter sauce.

Tucked away on one of those cobbled Shad Thames streets where you’re just as likely to stumble into a Sam Smith’s pub as you are a mind-blowingly scenic All Bar One, is Legare. It’s a cosy restaurant with simple, Ikea-ish furnishings, making delicious regional Italian food. Much of the dinky space is filled with dates sharing crudo and deciding whether to share a second brown crab taglioni. Do. The menu isn’t big but nor is it boring, and you’re best off trying a bit of everything.

Cicchetti Knightsbridge is part of the San Carlo restaurant group—a chain of Italian restaurants with locations all over London and the UK—but don’t let that put you off. Because this Knightsbridge spot is a dream group dinner location. The dining room gives fancy yacht crossed with a classic New York brasserie energy—all shiny deep brown wood and huge avante-garde art pieces. The food, from daydream-worthy truffle and pecorino ravioli and the melanzane parmigiana, is straight-up tasty.

A sophisticated Clerkenwell spot with lots of polished surfaces and dark wooden booths, Luca specialises in doing Italian food using British produce with elements of British cuisine thrown in. To get peak enjoyment out of Luca, we suggest you follow this game plan: get a seat at their warm, charming bar with your favourite person, order their highly addictive parmesan fries and a bowl of the exceptional rigatoni with pork sausage ragu, and then ask the barman to make you a gold negroni.

Mele E Pere is a very sexy place to be. It could be the vermouth bar, it could be the flirtatious tagliatelle fork-twirling, or it could be its moody basement Soho location. Whatever it is, Mele E Pere manages to feel like a restaurant that’s been here forever but still suits your modern dining needs. A charming, affordable date night featuring gluten-free pasta for your beloved? Sorted. An urge to eat slabs of Italian desserts on a Tuesday night? Nonna Mantovani’s tiramisu has got you covered.

King’s Road isn’t lacking food options, but for a place that has rustic interiors, dim lighting, and sourdough pizzas so good you’ll refuse to share, Made In Italy is your best bet. This three-floor restaurant in Chelsea serves all the classics, think bruschetta, and aubergine parmigiana that feels like a hug, as well those pizzas. They’re generous with the tomato sauce, they’ve got an excellent crust, and come topped with anything from spicy salami to mushrooms and black truffle.

Bocca di Lupo is an Italian restaurant in Soho that still hits all the right notes, over a decade after first opening. The menu changes daily, but you’ll generally find amazing pastas, excellent grilled meat and seafood, and regional dishes from across Italy that even your Italian friends would be hard pressed to say they’d tried. There are tables but the bar is where you want to be sitting—it’s the best place to grab one of their very good wines and observe the upscale dining room.

The River Cafe is a famous restaurant. From its beautiful Thames-side views to its legendary chocolate nemesis cake, this extortionately priced Hammersmith restaurant was the first to make now commonplace regional Italian food in the city. Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray did that rare thing back in 1987: they opened a modern institution. Just know that despite the high prices, half portions are, unashamedly, available. And most importantly, the River Cafe more than holds up today.