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Restaurants like Lucia are not easy to find. Many of the more ambitious new places are jam-packed and noisy, and are as much about scene as culinary technique. Lucia’s room is spacious, luxurious and anything but rowdy, with large semi-circular booths and windows cloaked in gauzy drapes.

Small plates are often one-bite situations: plump prawns in brik pastry, or lobster dressed in lemongrass and tequila in a jicama taco shell. Pork rib is crumbed, served with grapes, fennel agrodolce and creme fraiche. A remarkable dessert of mousselike chocolate and meringue is finished at the table with a bourbon-coffee mixture, creating a mesmerising pool at the bottom of the bowl.

Servers are charming and well-trained, able to talk breezily through the armagnac offering. This isn’t a place to see and be seen but if you’re after serious cooking, you’re in for a treat.