San Carlo, Birmingham

San Carlo in Birmingham city centre must be doing something right judging by the number of celebrities who have eaten there,

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Football players, newsreaders, soap stars - everyone from Jon Bon Jovi to former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has popped in there at some point for a pizza or a bowl of pasta.

The restaurant is located on Temple Street, a stone's throw from Birmingham Cathedral.

The glass frontage allows diners to take a peak inside, before they decide to spend their pennies there.

The restaurant is split into two levels, a small downstairs area and larger eating space up the stairs, and we were taken to the latter.

Light coloured tiles are fitted on the floor and the walls are painted white. Several vases are filled with beautiful lilac orchids which makes an eye-catching decoration which hangs from the ceiling.

There are mirrors on the wall and bottles of wine lined up just underneath giving a traditional Italian feel.

We sat on a small table in the corner and for a Monday night the restaurant was busy, with seven other tables filled with hungry diners.

The menu features the pizza dishes and pasta options you would expect at an Italian, but there are also lovely sounding meat and fish dishes on offer.

The specials menu is the surprise of the evening. There are around 15 main course options on there.

To get us going, we ordered some Italian bread (£2.50).

I decided to be brave and went for something I had never eaten in my 26 years - the smoked cheese, quails eggs and rocket starter, with black truffle shavings, was too hard to resist at £8.50.

The food came out on a round, white plate, and it looked artistic. The rocket in the middle was surrounded by circular pieces of cheese, topped with the small eggs and shavings of truffle.

The flavours were a perfect combination, and the dish was a treat. It was fulfilling to finally taste a truffle.

My partner plumped for the baby calamari (£6.95) which came out covered in, I was told, a very light, tasty batter. Every piece disappeared before the waiter took our plates away.

For main course, I chose the penne arrabbiata at £7.90. It was an ample portion when it came out and the pasta penne was cooked the traditional Italian way - al dente - with a bit of a bite. The tomato and chilli sauce had a real kick to it and it was packed with flavour.

My partner decided to go for the salmon ravioli flambé with vodka. The dish included five or six pieces of ravioli filled with salmon in a cream sauce and there were pretty pink peppercorns scattered over the plate.

It ticked all the boxes so I was told - lovely soft pasta, rich tomato sauce and beautiful-tasting salmon.

It was all washed down with a large bottle of sparkling water (£3.30), which was needed for my chilli pasta dish.

Although we were both too full for a desert, an espresso was ordered (£1.85) and the waiter brought out a small plate of Italian biscuits, dusted in icing sugar which finished the night off perfectly.

The bill came to £45.05 which on reflection was not too bad at all.

It was a relaxed evening, accompanied by some of the best Italian food I've ever eaten, lovely company and one or two celebrities looking down at us from the walls.

Unfortunately, no VIPs came through the doors when we ate. Maybe next time.

ADDRESS

San Carlo: 4 Temple Street, Birmingham, B2 5BN

Telephone: 0121 633 0251

Website: www.sancarlo.co.uk/birmingham