Channelling Winner's Dinners, just for Frobes;

Caraffini is one of those sleek, shiny, caramel blonde Italian restaurants on Lower Sloane Street. The waiters wear deep royal blue shirts to perfectly set off deep tans and deeper brown eyes. They weren't exactly in the mood for a bunch of stiff, middle aged lawyers wanting to talk shop, but they made the best of it.

Of the starters the special of crab ravioli with prawns in a sea food broth, was a clear winner, technically perfect with a "don't try this at home" warning. The chicken livers were good - but almost everything else came with the over ubiquitous "balsamic" and so became a taste merge. I had rabbit for the main course - too salty for me, I think the duck with bitter orange would have been a braver and better choice. Service was quick with a polished slightly over rehearsed charm. And despite the chef's assurances to the contrary the chocolate mousse was made with cream, and not just eggs and chocolate as the bistro classic purist in me demanded.

The following night the girlies and I retired to the Hoxton Grille to talk telly and giggle in a "those blokes at the next table are totally checking us out" kind of way. Little cousin is working on the new Jim'll Fix it Show and has lots of great stories, best mate was interviewing the Lord Chancellor for a serious documentary andt the parallels between their two experiences were a bit alarming. The Grille was as ever fabulous - I had the most perfect steak with chips and bernaise sauce, and it was so good that I didn't care what anyone else was eating! There was no room for puddings but the house espresso is excellent. The staff are young, good looking, enthusiastic and tell me I'm their favourite regular - flattery will get you everywhere.