Coppa

A few months ago, a chef-friend of mine took me to Lardo, a new real-deal Italian place round the corner from us in Hackney. First bite, and I fell in love - from the incredibly creamy burrata (young mozzarella), the tagliatelle with asparagus and olives and the stone oven-baked ndjua pizza to the creme caramel cheesecake and rich tiramisu. So when I heard they were opening up a sister, I had to get involved.

Coppa is a summer pop-up, tucked away off London Fields, on a seemingly non-descript rooftop. Emerging from the winding staircase, you're met with a colourful array of capanas, smiling staff and a lot of lemons. Tucked into our capana (a brightly coloured open shed), we were out of the annoyingly bracing wind and in our element with gingham table cloths, enamel crockery and some great music.

Coppa's all about sharing so we started with a bottle of prosecco (naturally) before ordering a whole array of dishes (on the recommendation of the waitress). Think a little like tapas, with an Italian twist. We went for the zucchini fritte (courgette fries), and chipironi fritte (octopus), before flavoursome proscuitto, basil and mozzarella calzones; chicken and nduja spiedini; lamb, anchovy and rosemary spiedini; and a massive grilled Italian sausage (keep it clean please). Food came as it was ready so we could pick and choose and we managed to polish everything off despite fearing we'd overordered.

With the colourful capanas, light-hearted lemons and crochet blankets to ward off any wayward cold, it did feel a little like being on holiday (something also picked up in TimeOut's review today). Prices were average for the size of the portions (this is London after all) but it was a great place to go for my birthday and will be even better in the blistering sun. There's even a pop-up Coppa Cart around the corner in the Fields for those fancying some light relief whilst lazing.

Coppa gets a three-and-a-half out of five, as big sister Lardo has a bit more of the edge.