 MATEUSE Rosé, Blue Nun, crispy duck in pancakes... Remember the days, so long ago, when they seemed the cutting edge of sophistication. Now it is almost too embarrassing to ask for them. We enjoyed them then, so why not now? No reason at all, and like all good things, they are enjoying revivals. My starter at Virgilio's fell into this category. Parma ham and melon is the ubiquitous opener for an Italian meal and the gastronomic equivalent of flares. When flares first became the vogue a colleague and I were at another Italian restaurant, and so impressed was he by my cosmopolitan tastes in ordering this dish that he opted for the same. Back then the deeply reserved English family on the next table had been so outraged by the horrendous service and quality of food they did something I suspect that they had never done in a restaurant before - they complained. In a scene worthy of the best of Fawlty Towers, the father became John Cleese before our very eyes, a spectacle that nicely filled in the 45-minute wait for our order. When our ever-so-sophisticated started eventually arrived our jaws dropped. We were each presented with two cocktail sticks, each piercing a tiny melon ball and a single and tiny sliver of ham. It took five seconds to eat, and then we left. But that was then, that was another time and another place when the fashions in food and clothes should best be forgotten. Now, flares are worn once again but now they have gained a sophistication, as has the humble melon and Parma ham. This was very much the case at Virgilio's, where it was presented perfectly. Waves of the thinly sliced meat smothered juicy melon in that perfect but surprising juxtaposition of flavours. My wife chose another Italian stand-by, tuna and bean salad - but she gave it a seven out of 10. | 
