Name a restaurant where you can go for a business breakfast, pre-theatre oysters, a mid-shopping spritz and a slap-up dinner with friends. Stumped? Try Elio’s Place.

It’s open for focaccia with soft-boiled egg and smoked trout right through to potato rosti piped with trout mousse at knock off time. The split-level space in an old Victorian building is warmed up by timber, cork, frosted glass and eclectic art.

Find a window perch or hidden nook, pick at ox tongue skewers lathered with mustard dressing and sip an Americano Perfecto, made crisp from lager (not the usual soda).

Campanelle, the cone-shaped pasta, is stained with pumpkin-miso sauce scattered exuberantly with chives. Frittelle di riso, the Italian creamed-rice doughnuts, come with kumquat custard for dunking. It’s a ritual as comforting as knowing that there’s never a wrong time to visit.