In London’s here-today-gone-tomorrow dining scene, any restaurant that survives for 50 years must be doing something right. Zia Teresa has ignored half a century of food fads and just got on with delivering decent traditional Italian fare to Knightsbridge’s residents, tourists and shoppers.

The Venue
Do you remember your first visit to an Italian restaurant? Of course you do. There were patterned ceramic tiles on the floor and candles and posies on the white paper-clothed tables. Mature waiters, impeccably attired in black and white, patrolled the room, grinding pepper from giant wooden mills. There was avocado with prawns for starters, lasagne for mains and profiteroles for pud. At Zia Teresa, it all lives on, although the avocado and prawns now sets you back £8.50 and the lasagne costs over a tenner, so not everything stays the same! And the open kitchen at the rear of the 80-cover ground floor room (a further 60 can be accommodated in the womblike basement) would have seemed as odd as today’s prices back in 1959.

The Atmosphere
Even on a night early in the week, the ground floor is busy with relaxed and animated couples and families whilst the basement is filled by two large groups. Service is friendly and utterly assured; you’re in the hands of professional waiters, not students paying their way through college or resting West End luvvies. It all feels reassuring and cosy.

The Food
There’s a charge of £2 per person for bread and butter and olives – they’d have been complimentary 50 years ago – but at least the bread is fresh, the butter is soft and the olives are zingily dressed in oil and lemon. Classics like fried calamari, spaghetti carbonara and mushroom risotto appear amid the nine starters, dozen pizzas, 11 pastas and risottos, and 13 meat, fish and vegetarian mains. You can also pick at a starter- or main course-sized platter of cheeses (£7.50/£12.50) or cured meats (£8/£14.50).

A first course of octopus and potato salad (£10.25, of which 50p goes to charity) is simply that – juicy, tender, not overly fishy chunks of octopus with boiled, traditionally turned potatoes. There’s no dressing or sauce to speak of but, in time-honoured Italian fashion, separate bottles of oil and vinegar are offered (though the vinegar is that latter day upstart, balsamic). Tomato bruschetta (£5) hits the spot. The toasted bread is crunchy with a squidgy middle, the tomatoes actually have flavour, and the oil and garlic are punchy, as is the generous helping of chopped basil.

Zia Teresa’s house pasta is fettuccine in a creamy truffle sauce with radicchio (£10.50). The generous helping of pasta is perfectly al dente and there’s loads of musky truffle flavour, the richness of which is offset by the bitter, slightly crunchy leaves. It’s a seriously good plate of pasta. £20.25 for grilled sea bass with grilled vegetables might seem a bit steep but you’d pay more at the big name fish restaurants in the West End and they couldn’t possibly do it any better. A whole, boned, precisely cooked fish of moist, delicious flesh and crisp, charred skin fills the plate. The interesting vegetable selection includes fennel, radicchio, red pepper, courgettes and aubergine. The only minor let-down is the potatoes which aren’t crisp.

There are six defiantly retro desserts like tiramisu, creme caramel and cheesecake, plus four ice cream concoctions. Or you could share the aforementioned cheese platter which comes with fresh fruit, honey and bread. Well-made mandarin and lemon sorbets (£4.95), served in a tall coffee glass and garnished with flavoursome chopped strawberries and fruit puree for a touch of balancing sweetness, make a refreshing finale. A set menu offers three starter, three main and two dessert options at £15.75 for two courses and £18.75 for three.

The Drink
A wholly Italian list of 13 whites, 23 reds, five sparklers and a couple each of roses and dessert wines is helpfully subdivided into categories like simple, unpretentious and fresh, more intensive superior elegant dry whites and lightly aged, rounder fuller fruity taste. Prices range from £15 to £95. Commendably, 15 are available by the glass.

Cipresseto Rosato I.G.T. – Marchesi Antinori – Toscana 2007 arrives correctly chilled and is a pleasant, simple, quaffer of a rose, though no bargain at £5.90/£24.90. The house red, Rosso Veneto I.G.T. – Corte Grande – Veneto 2008, is warming and caramel-y and very fair value at £4.50/£17.50. Still or sparkling water (Italian, of course) is £2.30 for 500ml and £3.50 for 750ml. There’s Peroni bottled beer (£3.50), and a reasonable range of soft drinks, spirits and liqueurs.

The Last Word
Expect to pay £30 to £50 for half a bottle of modest wine and three courses of Italian classics cleverly tweaked here and there to satisfy 21st-century expectations. The food here is considerably better than that of some of its higher profile Knightsbridge neighbours, and half the price. Add to that professional service and a cosy atmosphere, and it’s no surprise Zia Teresa has made it through five decades and can surely look forward to many more.

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