Caffè Vivo - Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle restaurant supremo Terry Laybourne goes Italian with this new venture on the trendy Quayside. This is the new-name, new-look Café Live, moved just up the street from its original site. Vivo is an all-purpose venue that kicks off with breakfast and runs as a casual café-style joint during the day, with more ambitious meals available in the evening.

The shell of a seventeenth-century warehouse has been impressively transformed with bare brickwork, iron pillars, sparkly aluminium chairs and leather banquettes. There are no frills, just plenty of buzz. Call in for cappuccino and focaccia, a bowl of pasta or a board of artisan salame and cheeses. The full menu has a regional flavour with interesting breads and antipasti, salads (warm seafood with cannellini beans, say), pappardelle with braised duck, pancetta and mushrooms in red wine, and mains running from classic Tuscan porchetta to arrosticcini (char-grilled lamb skewers with rosemary potatoes).

Ice creams are homemade in the true Italian tradition, and the place is noted for its special coppas: try the Milano version with coffee ice cream, espresso, rum granita, Amaretti biscuits and mascarpone. Two dozen Italian regional wines provide excellent quaffing by the glass.