Muscling in on top spot?

Seafood linguini

- By GEORGE ALLEN

WALKING into La Burrata in Darley Abbey feels like entering a confessional booth, thanks to the heavy curtains, keeping out the cold, which you have to part when you enter.

But once inside properly, you'll find a tastefully decorated restaurant with a luxurious green theme that brings together the chairs, menus, napkins, and even aneon sign.

Run by the same team as the successful Lorentes restaurants, one next door in Darley Abbey and the other on Friar Gate, my expectations were high as I consider the food at the Spanish eateries to be among the best in Derby.

However, unlike many Italian restaurants these days, you won't find pizza served here, which feels like a deliberate choice. Instead, there’s a menu reminiscent of genuine trattotias, split into sections for antipasti, starters, pasta, meat and fish, and so on.

You know you're onto a winner when it's hard to choose from so many enticing options, including steamed mussels with ‘nduja (£12), mushroom risotto (£18) and fillet of seabass with lobster (£30). It’s not a cheap restaurant and it sits closer to the Darleys end than Carluccio’s. But those looking for somewhere special for a Christmas meal are unlikely to be disappointed.