Toss them with strands of fresh tagliatelle mixed with olive oil and a little cream, or into an asparagus risotto at the last minute, just so they wilt.

Options include cheese ravioli in a sauce of tomato, mushrooms, sausage and sweet peas; fresh tagliatelle tossed in Bolognese sauce, and spaghetti combined with escarole, beets and anchovy.

The ravioli stuffed with creamy ricotta and sweet pumpkin need nothing more than butter sauce, and the fresh tagliatelle are wrapped deliciously around porcini mushrooms.

Most notable is the preferred choice of pasta, which today is widely recognized as fresh tagliatelle.

Acceptable alternatives to fresh tagliatelle include other broad flat pasta shapes, such as pappardelle or fettuccine, and tube shapes, such as rigatoni and penne.

Try its antipasto of marinated fish, and for starters go for the risotto with asparagus or the fresh tagliatelle with prawns, cherry tomatoes and crushed pistachio.

The fresh tagliatelle with tomato sauce is perfect, the sort of simple plate of pasta with an uncomplicated sauce that is Italian food at its best.

But the fresh tagliatelle with tomato sauce has been perfect each time I've tried it.

Les Papilles: Neo-Basque and traditional French dishes are on offer, like pork filet mignon with fresh tagliatelle or pollock with olive-oil mashed potatoes.

The fresh tagliatelle is prepared with pressed tuna roe; the pappardelle with rabbit and mushrooms.