I thought I ought to write a review for Sofalino, having spent 2 wonderful evenings there over the past month, once for my birthday meal with family, and then again a couple of nights ago for dinner with my sister. I have been here quite a few times since its opening 5 years ago, and it is one of my favourites in North London.

The food I ate at my birthday meal was without doubt the finest food I had tasted since my holiday in Italy last summer. After having enjoyed the soft, velvety bread and plump & juicy olives upon arrival, I shared the antipasto for 2 with my sister for starter, and went for the veal milanese for main. The antipasto is fantastic; it contains prosciutto, salami, mortadella and bresaola for the cured meats, roasted aubergine, courgette and red pepper for the veg, and is served on lots of rocket with cherry tomatoes, artichoke and black olives. But the absolute highlights of the platter were the buffalo bocconcini, deep fried taleggio in breadcrumbs, and gorgonzola arancini. So many beautiful flavours to savour, and that's just in the starter!

The veal milanese was crumbed and fried to perfection, and was huge! My dad, mum and I opted to have ours with gorgonzola and spinach gnocchi, rather than the standard linguine Napoletana, resulting in potentially one of the best main courses I've ever eaten outside of Italy. Other dishes worth mentioning from that night are the pappardelle with venison and porcini mushrooms, and the gnocchi alla Sorrentina. As it was my birthday they had made me a stunning chocolate cake with fresh strawberries, which topped off the meal beautifully.

For my meal last night I once again had the antipasto, of course, but this time the arancini were EVEN BETTER than last time, as they had saffron in, which is possibly my favourite ever ingredient. I had the calzone for main course, which was just delicious with lots of ham and mushroom filling and a beautifully doughy yet crisp crust. I went for the dessert of the day for pudding, completely forgetting my Lenten fast of no cakes/sweet yummy things, but it was completely worth it because my huuuuge slice of pear, almond and ricotta tart was from the top drawer; my sister only had a bite of the pastry crust and she was still talking about how incredible it was the next day!

Sofalino also has a very high quality wine list; the Primitivo 'il Pumo' is a personal favourite of ours, with its dark, smooth, plummy intense flavour.

On both of these occasions the restaurant was full and buzzing, and the staff friendly and attentive; exactly what you want from an Italian restaurant.

Without a doubt I shall be back sooner rather than later.

As a local Italian serving fresh pizza and pasta, I cannot rate this place highly enough. Friendly service, nice portions and reasonable prices. Totally recommend.