Who doesn’t love date night? Personally, for me, nothing beats splitting a good bottle of wine and sharing an indulgent meal with a loved one.

Scalini is somewhere that Michael & visited with family friends a few years ago, and were totally blown away by, so it only seemed right that we return and enjoy it just the two of us.

An incredibly traditional & authentic fine-dining Italian restaurant in the heart of Chelsea, Scalini has it all; excellent food; charming staff; a beautiful, rustic dining room; and great ambience.

The restaurant is cosy but smart, with starched white tablecloths and exposed brick walls covered in photographs of celebrity patrons. Last time we were there I bumped (literally) into Alan Sugar (which I will admit I got very excited about).

On both our visits the restaurant was also totally jam-packed, with the usual tempered chaos that one expects from a genuine Italian restaurant surrounding us.

The menu offers traditional, unpretentious and honest food, with a focus on simplicity and passion, and excels at providing just this.

Everything about your food experience at Scalini is generous, from the complimentary elements of your meal to the portions that you are served. You will not leave hungry.

Big bowls of beautifully plump & juicy Sicilian green olives, and a ‘bruschetta mix’ of chopped tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and basil, are provided to every table.

Before a selection of breads and thick slab of butter is offered up.

You could fill up on all these treats alone.

I wasted no time getting my bruschetta party started. I love bruschetta and Scalini’s mix contained the perfect balance of each ingredient.

Load me up.

We chose a light, smooth red, ‘Chianti Classico Riserva, Sangiovese, Canaiolo’ (£36.00), to accompany our food, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

For starters, we made the Italians proud and shared.

Calamari fritti (£18.50).

Enough deep-fried squid to feed a small family, and the best possible version of the delectable stuff; this dish did not disappoint.

And the best part?

BOTTOMLESS amounts of homemade creamy, zingy tartare sauce.

Obviously I was in food heaven.

And the ‘specials’ burrata served with rocket, cherry tomatoes and fried focaccia (£21.50).

Again, an incredibly generous portion but, for me, not up to the same standard as the bargain bucket of calamari. The burrata wasn’t as creamy & flavoursome as some of those I’ve sampled, needless to say, we greedily polished it off regardless.

For mains, there was no doubt about it. We only had eyes for the lobster linguine (£30.00 each).

Having had this dish last time we came, we knew we were in for a treat of epic proportions.

SO much lobster. SO much pasta. SO much sauce.

Executed perfectly.

Simply exquisite.

Suitably stuffed from a mountain of carbs, we intended to skip dessert, but were presented with an entire plate of homemade biscotti’s and meringues.

It would have been rude not to.

The mini meringues were particularly good, even rivalling those mum served up at my birthday party, which everyone raves about.

It’s fair to say that we rolled out of Scalini with clown smiles plastered on our faces.

Scalini has earned itself a spot in my favourite London restaurants, and I would urge you to check it out.

Although the prices aren’t cheap, the portions are off the scale huge, so you really do get value for your money. Just be sure to visit hungry (and order the calamari and lobster linguine, you WON’T regret it).

9/10