Weekly Lunch Pick: the handmade pasta at Osteria Ciceri e Tria

One of downtown’s most popular lunch destinations, this Victoria Street restaurant buzzes with energy as friendly wait staff usher soul-satisfying Italian plates to lunching lawyers and city hallers. Complimentary olives and hunks of dense ciabatta bread dipped in fruity extra-virgin olive oil quell hunger pangs until our order arrives. Belly-warming orecchiette (pasta shaped like little ears) are tiny toothsome pockets zinged with bits of chili, garlic and anchovies. The subtle briny fish flavour is balanced by pan-blistered rapini. We finish the pungent affair with a cappuccino and a much needed-breath mint.