Nothing spells party more than a room full of noise and bag of seafood spaghetti - Ciao Bella’s must-order dish - being piled onto your plate. Only there are black and white portraits, and a man called Norman playing the piano. You’re 15 minutes away from King’s Cross but it feels more like 15 hours. Especially when it’s absolutely chocka in mid-November, and you’re eating prosciutto and melonĪnd chugging some merlot. You are, undeniably, still on the pavement. In the early 80s, they stuck a canopy up, bought some heaters, and transformed one end of Lamb’s Conduit Street into London’s most happening outdoor ‘terrace’. Need something rebranded? Forget talking to a ‘creative’ agency, just speak to this lot. The party starts outside, on Ciao Bella’s famous terrace. It’s the kind of restaurant where the aubergine parmigiana doesn’t matter quite as much as the story you’re listening to. Come here on a Saturday night and you’ll immediately wish you were with more people, no matter the size of your group. For over three decades an old-school Italian restaurant has been the absolute life and soul of Bloomsbury. No, the reason you go to Ciao Bella is for the best possible time. You don’t go to Ciao Bella for the most perfect pasta, or pizza, in London - though the food here is generous in its portions and flavour.

Ciao bella 2 game