Polpo, Covent Garden

Italian Tapas. These two words, through no fault of their own, seem like bad culinary jiggery pokery. Like something the Italians are doing just to annoy the Spanish. Perhaps on this island of ubiquitous Dominos Huts and Pizza Stradas it is hard to accept that maybe Italian food is more than that. For those who refuse to bow down to such foodie ignorance (see also: the British love of Indian food) there is a feast of lovely little Italian places dotted across London to sample. Polpo is often near the top of any such list. Based on my experience this should not be the case.