Rioba - the name of one of the Moorish merchants carved on the corner of a nearby house - is a delightful restaurant in one of our favourite areas of Venice - quiet, and south-facing so you can catch the sun and sit outside, even if it's cool. The charming Eloïse is effortlessly efficient and the classy menu is one that tempts you back for at least a second tasting, with prices that would be good value at a much more standard establishment.

It's ironic that this restaurant is just across the Calle from Fondamenta, about which we raved this time last year - but which has morphed into a decent but not exciting pizza joint...

We kicked off with a 'flan' of zucchini with a fennel sauce - more like a mousse really, very delicate and quite delicious (€7). Star of the antipasto stakes though was a tortino di pasta briseé filled with broccoli, served with a couple of grilled prawns and a balsamic vinegar reduction (€10). The prawns were almost superfluous, the short pastry case filled with broccoli was so good.

All the pasta is hand-made and there is a ravioli or lasagne dish of the day; I chose reginette (wavy ribbons of pasta) with a lamb ragù (€12), which involved supremely tender chunks of meat rather than the more prosaic mince I had expected.

Secondi are very reasonably priced (€15 - 22) and the tagliata di manzo is an absolute snip at €18 - a huge piece of beef fillet roughly sliced, cooked to perfection and served on a bed of red cabbage with rosemary. So tender and pale that one wondered if it should really have been called veal...

Puddings (€4 - 6.50) are also home made (it's so good to see more and more Venetian restaurants doing more than the bought-in tartufi or the standard tiramisù). Crema di mascarpone con amaretti was delicious; it also comes flavoured with cinnamon.

House white is is choice of prosecco or tokai, the latter highly drinkable at €9.50 per litre, and there is a vast list of grappe with which to finish your meal. As it was a sunny day we asked whether sgroppini (lemon sorbet with vodka, served in a glass...) might just be available, and were rewarded with a couple so good we had to get the chef to raid his freezer for additional sorbet to make us a couple more.

A treat all round, and a restaurant to which we'll be returning, especially as the menu changes most months to take advantage of the ingredients in season.