In what is turning into a real life game of Monopoly, one where your starting capital needs to be oligarch billions rather than £200 for passing Go, Mayfair’s desirable restaurant sites are being snapped up by Russia’s elite. The string of Russian-backed restaurants now inhabiting the priciest heart of W1 include Novikov, Goodman, Rextail, Burger/Lobster and, most recently, Quattro Passi (derided by Jay Rayner as a business “seemingly designed to milk a luxe economy that values pointless fripperies over real value, an insult to good taste in three courses”).

Latest on the list: a new pizza concept, Bocconcino Pizzeria, opening in Berkeley Square next month. The 127-cover operation is restaurateur Mikhail Gokhner’s first international outpost, to add to the five he already has in Moscow.

Bocconcino’s Mayfair site is split over two floors, with a ground floor restaurant and basement bar. Dishes include wood fired pizzas, linguine with cuttlefish and squid ink and calzone. The wine list will be exclusively Italian and the bar menu will offer cocktails like Bellini, Negroni and Aperol Sprit.

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