Ziani

Ziani has kept its corner of Radnor Walk, a quiet residential turn off the King's Road, since 1984. The dining room is narrow and low-lit, its walls hung with black-and-white photographs and its tables set close, so the room fills with conversation on a busy night. It is the sort of neighbourhood Italian that Chelsea tends to keep to itself.

The kitchen cooks Venetian: fegato alla veneziana, home-made tagliatelle with truffle, charcoal-grilled fish, set against a wine list drawn from the Italian regions. The restaurant takes its name from the Ziani family who governed Venice in the Middle Ages, and it has stayed in the same family hands throughout, which accounts for the warmth of the welcome and the regulars who have eaten here for years.

For a private party the whole restaurant can be taken exclusively, seating up to 55 across the room and its bar. It suits a birthday, an anniversary or a close dinner where the point is the table rather than the spectacle.