Sonny & Vito's

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

According to the blackboard in Sonny & Vito's deli/café, the cakes are 'baked with love, right here every day'. A playfulness and attention to detail are evident throughout the whole enterprise. Owner Mario Pelosi and his partner Angela Mullen, who named the business after their twin boys, designed the interiors. Tall windows and silver ceiling fans provide a vaguely American feel, while off-sale wines sit on wooden shelves beside deli foods in gorgeous artsy packaging. Chandeliers, bare brick walls and period street signs ('Sauchiehall' and 'Saltcoats Station') somehow all succeed. A glass cabinet houses interesting cheeses and cold meats, as well as home-made quiches and tarts. Among the latter, one with spinach and parmesan has an exciting pesto bite, served with a lavish tomato and olive salad plus new potatoes. Cakes are innovative and lovingly made: the Tunisian orange and chilli cake (topped with crystallised red chilli flecks) zings with moistness and citrus peel. An iced almond tart could not be more rich and bursting with marzipan flavour. Products are organic, free-range and dolphin-friendly. Union hand-roasted coffee is chosen for distinctive taste and ethical sourcing. Service is unflustered and dedicated and, as a final takeaway, the honey and spelt loaf is a malty, wholesome hit.

• High point: It's all baked with love
• Low point: Premises deserve to be twice the size