Richmond is one of the loveliest places to live in London with its leafy green parks and gardens, the Thames running through it, taking you one way into central London, the other south towards Hampton Court Palace and beyond. It’s easy to find nature and beauty and good places to walk; it’s not quite so easy to find a simple, cosy place to meet up with a friend for a bit of supper and a long chat. Richmond is full of chains: Côte, Carluccio’s, Pizza Express, Byron and even the more upmarket Ivy Cafe; they all have a place in a foodie world but their inevitable sameness, while letting you know exactly what you can expect, can be a little boring. Liz and I often opt for the wonderful independent Indian, Tangawizi, just across Richmond bridge into East Twickenham, but we like Italian too and decided to give Treviso ‘a go’ last night and see what it was like.

Situated on a corner on Kew Road, which takes you from Richmond up to the famous botanical gardens of Kew, it offers its own touch of greenery as you pass through its well-planted front and into the restaurant.

Inside it has a traditional trattoria feel and the menu offers Italian staples in the form of Primi, Pasta & Risotto and I Nostri Secondi.

It was empty when I arrived but a few tables gradually filled up through the evening; it was a Monday evening so fairly quiet. The welcome was warm and friendly. Where in Italy do you come from? I asked the waiter. Verona, he told me. And we discussed northern Italy for a while and a mutual love of Venice and Turin. Then Liz arrived and it was time for glasses of prosecco (£6.25) and deciding what to eat.

A basket of bread came with a dish of olive oil and balsamic.

The starter choices sounded good but quite substantial. We considered sharing one but then settled on having just a main dish each. However, as I often do in Italian restaurants I chose a pasta dish rather than a secondi. I dithered between a seafood risotto (£13.95) or having the pasta version which was a special of the day. I decided on pasta.

A plate of linguine wrapped round a gorgeous mix of mussels, clams and prawns with tomato and chilli was very delicious and I really enjoyed it.

Liz opted for tagliatelle with salmon, courgettes, tomatoes and cream (£10.95) which she also enjoyed.

We had just coffee to follow – a macchiato for me – and fresh mint tea (served nicely in a teapot) for Liz.

I usually like to have two or three courses when reviewing a restaurant for the blog, and we only had one. But we liked it a lot and when we came out, Liz remarked it was a place to return to. So we’ll definitely go again and count it as a great local find.