Behind the natural serenity and enchanting aromas at La Luna, there is a kind of lunacy at work. Certainly a fanaticism.

The two chefs who own and work this novel Italian restaurant are called Klaus Beckmann and Lindy Pretorius. Lindy is a consummate pastry chef, with further talents for preserving and bottling very desirable goodies; Klaus is the master creator of the Italian signature dishes.

These two chef-friends have travelled the world, studying and cooking, of course; not always in the same joints, but always within chatting, coffeeing and enthusing distance of each other.

Klaus grew up in Berlin but in a working-class Italian area, living, eating and learning the Italian ‘gusto’ of life in the kitchens of his friends’ parents, the neighbours. Comfort food turned to fascination and then precise knowledge about every process, every kind and shape of pasta and its accompaniments. His eyes gleam and he laughs at his own mania for importing, having made and sourced old and new artisan tools for pasta making, shaping and indenting. There are boards with cross hatches, grooves, string, wooden impressing tools and old-style metal extruders, each dedicated to very specific pasta functions. Now, Klaus uses his encyclopaedic knowledge to invent and ‘take further’ the shapes and tastes of his pasta passion, for new taste delights. It is brilliant stuff.

Food

My former favourite agnoletti cubes no longer feature, but my new love is casoncelli alla bergamasca, a plate of inventively large, humbug-shaped envelopes, swollen with bacon, sage and butter filling. Diners should try the irresistible non-pasta dishes too, like a monkfish and calamaretti dish with a southern Italian spicy sauce, perhaps after the antipasti of La Luna-created and locally sourced delights, and before Lindy’s fresh laurel panna cotta.

Wine

Find about 30 wines here, particularly picked to do pastas proud, like chenins, the lighter reds, plus three surprisingly tasty low-alcohol wines from Veneto, for designated drivers after a helluva meal.

Service

As the stately Westcliff Hotel closed and its staff lost jobs, they were grabbed by La Luna, where their previous training and professionalism has heightened service levels in the restaurant neighbourhood.

Ambience

Clean design, natural woods and blue hues run across the inner space, the cool outdoor patio and the tent room, which contains the bottle chandelier. La Luna looks and feels peaceful but friendly. Both chefs enjoy making appearances, with amusing anecdotes, if you’re in the mood.