Have you ever been to Sicily? John and I went last year and we loved it. One of the best parts of our trip? The food, of course. From dark chocolate and pistachio gelato sandwiched between slices of fluffy brioche to pane (the extent of my Italian!) served straight out of the oven in a former farmhouse granery, Sicilian cuisine is definitely something special.

On Wednesday, I was invited by Zomato to sample a six-course tasting menu at a guest chef event held at Evoluzione restaurant.  The restaurant sits within Hotel Xenia in Earl's Court - an area of London I don't venture to much (except for London Book Fair once a year, though it's now held in Olympia) but am always curious to explore.

I was excited to hear that one of the chefs, Pietro D'Agostino, has a restaurant in Taormina, Sicily called La Capinera, which specializes in serving organic and gluten-free food. We stayed in Taormina (pictured above) for a few days and, while chock-full of tourists during high season, its coastline is beautiful and there are plenty of great vantage points to spot the moody, active volcano - Mt. Etna.

Having recently begun an ardent love affair with Italian wines, I more than gladly accepted an invitation from Zomato to attend an evening of fine wining and dining in the very chic and elegant restaurant Evoluzione, housed in the boutique hotel Xenia and situated on the very fashionable Cromwell Road in SW5.

I was attending a guest chef event with the talents of Mario Demuro from Basilicata, a region in the South of Italy.

We were to be treated to a five course tasting menu, paired with some stonking wines, after a very pleasant introduction to the evening consisting of some fabulous canapes and a glass of Greco di Tufo, a grape which only relatively recently has become quite ubiquitous.

Smart waiting staff glided effortlessly amongst the group, dispensing glorious looking and more importantly, delicious nibbles - they say that amuse bouches are a look into the soul of a chef and if this was the case, we were in for a cracking night.

At this point I have to say that the atmosphere was terrific. The staff were welcoming, the wine flowed like a river (or was it just me guzzling for Britain) and it felt like we were guests in an Italian home. Having recently been to a few ghastly establishments, full of arrogant waiting staff, noses in the sky, looking down on the proletariat, our scenario could not have been more different.

Anyway, after being seated, we were given a menu of the food and wine before the chef and a translator talked about the food, the region and each course before tucking in.

Well, what can I say? Original, left of centre whilst still holding onto tradition and it goes without saying, ingredients of the highest quality.

For me, however, the dominant feature of the evening was the outstanding selection of ambrosial wines. I scurried off to wine searcher to see where I could buy the rosato d’Aglianico IGT 2013 and the Greco di Bianco, a copper-hued dessert wine made from partially dried grapes. Sadly nowhere in the UK stocks these beauties, which makes us all blithering idiots in my book.

The philosophy here is simple and very effective. Give your customers a warm welcome, enrapture them with fine wines, glorious food and look after them as if they were one of your own.

Un’esperienza fantastico.