Top-end Italian restaurants tend to be chic and minimalist, but this new Marylebone enterprise goes for a decadent vibe that evokes louche aristocrats from a Visconti movie. Crumbling plaster walls with the gleam of gold leaf, furniture from grand old houses, stylish lamps and rich textiles make Mora a seductive destination. No big-name chef is in the kitchen, but the team create skilfully executed modern cooking, producing a menu that’s just right for central London’s well-travelled diners. Fashionable appetites might well choose small plates of yellowtail ceviche with mango, or crab salad with fresh peas, though the larger portions of scallops with fennel, orange and olives, or vitello tonnato, are also light and delicious. Carpaccio of red Sicilian prawns has hints of bottarga mayonnaise and luxurious avocado crema, and the choice of substantial pasta dishes includes linguine with a generous portion of lobster, or spaghetti with a fragrant saffron and bone-marrow ragu. If you’re ravenous, opt for roast sole with tapenade, or dry-aged T-bone steak, but be sure to order truffled potato purée – sinfully delicious. Surprisingly, puddings such as tiramisu or pannacotta can be on the clumsy side, yet the overall mood here is such fun that it would be churlish to complain.