ON a rainy Thursday evening, amid all the talk of Coronavirus I decided to cheer myself up with a trip to Regent Circus. Home to Nandos and Prezzo, I decided on ASK Italian because I’d never been before.

My expectations were initially high as a shot of raspberry lemonade was poured out while I sat down at my table, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The restaurant itself has a lovely relaxed and peaceful atmosphere with low level lighting and fairy lights, making it the perfect retreat from the weather outside and a long and stressful week at work.

There weren’t many other dinners joining me but I had chosen to go fairly early in the evening, and it just meant no one could watch me make an idiot of myself trying to squeeze the last drop of hand sanitizer out of a bottle I bought before Christmas.

To start with I chose the cheese fonduta which was advertised as a new addition to the menu. It came very quickly and smelled amazing next to a tasty parcel of warm dough sticks. The cheese was deliciously sour and rich, topped with a garlic and herb crumb.

I was warned about the hot dish and though I took my time to get through the generous serving, the cheese never went cold or started to solidify – a hazard that can defeat the purpose of a fondue.

To follow I went for the penne a pollo della casa, described on the menu as seasoned chicken breast, mushrooms and pasta baked in a creamy mushroom and white wine sauce.

To keep my vitamins and minerals intake up in these unhealthy times I also thought it best to order the rainbow side salad, which included candy stripe beetroot, yellow courgettes, plum tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, mixed leaves, radish and a citrus dressing.

In my tired state however, I hadn’t realised the pollo della casa already came with a salad and it would have been helpful if the waiter had pointed this out when I gave my order. Especially as I also had my eye on the zucchine fritte – lightly battered courgette sticks served with garlic mayonnaise, which I would have certainly ordered instead.

The pollo della casa was extremely nice with a lovely aromatic flavour from the mushrooms, and the sauce wasn’t too rich to follow the fondue.

In the end it was good that I had two salads as the one which came with the pasta was a tad disappointing. A bit limp and unpromising, it looked as though it had been left on the side too long.

By contrast the rainbow salad was very refreshing, crisp and fresh. The citrus sauce worked well to liven up the flavours of a salad which can sometimes be bland.

By this point I really was rather full, but determined not to be defeated I agreed to a pudding.

The selection offered by ASK Italian is impressive including rhubarb and custard ravioli, baked chocolate gnocchi to be dipped in chocolate sauce and pistachio and olive oil cake.

I normally go for something fairly simple but this time chose the chocolate Etna.

Hot toffee sauce was poured over a dark chocolate cup at the table, melting away to reveal a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of a hot chocolate fondant.

The bitterness of the dark chocolate offset the sweetness of the fondant and the toffee sauce, which was hot enough to melt the chocolate but not so as to turn the ice cream immediately to soup.

ASK Italian is a tad pricier than other chains, with a main dish being roughly £13, but for your money you do get that bit extra and I shall certainly be returning.