We’re pretty dangerous people. You can probably tell. After all, we own two types of hot sauce, once attempted to cut a friend’s fringe in a moving vehicle, and sometimes we wait eight months between trips to the dentist. Don’t be intimidated, the Tabasco life chose us. But realistically, when it comes to eating out, danger is the last thing you want. Otherwise more people would bring snacks on rollercoasters. And less people would be eating at Lina Stores. This retro pasta spot and Italian takeout deli is the restaurant equivalent of a safety belt. Ten minutes from King’s Cross station, this place is equal parts inoffensive, cute, and useful–especially if you happen to work nearby. In a room that looks like the innards of Wes Anderson’s skull, they serve the kind of Certified Nice Pasta™ that you’ll find at many of London’s other pasta specialist spots. A rondini seafood number. An old-school pappardelle with a rich ragu. A simple butter and egg yolk tagliolini that you order to prove to your date that you really are a sapiosexual. They range from £7 to £13 per plate and for the most part, the portion sizes are that which you’d offer an eight-year-old, or yourself after living it large with the office biscuit jar at lunch. But order a couple and you won’t leave hungry. The Lina Stores look is pastel, candy striper’s dream meets La Dolce Vita theme park, with their take-out deli decked out with hanging salumi, counters full of cheese, and glass jars packed to the rim with Italian sweets in shiny wrappers. Basically, it’s a charming, uniform mint green space where primary colours go to die and feels like the set of a rom-com with a tagline like "they came for the linguine, but they stayed for love". Thanks to all the cheerful faux-retro touches, your catch-up will feel far more Pinterest dream board than mutual Victoria line meet-up, and that meal with your parents will leave them debating a trip to Florence. Or, at the very least, re-doing the kitchen. The only downside is that all that inoffensive charm makes Lina Stores popular, so book ahead. Just to be safe.