A food critic has heaped praise on an Italian restaurant in Norwich - naming a pumpkin pasta as her favourite dish.

Grace Dent wrote about her trip to Benoli in Orford Street in The Guardian.

She visited with Ainsley Harriott while the pair were in Norfolk filming their new Channel Four show.

The first thing the duo tried at the Orford Street restaurant were the "humble-sounding parmesan croquettes".

Dent said of the deep-fried bites: "From the moment I set eyes on their cheesy weirdness, I knew that Benoli was no ordinary Italian restaurant."

Eastern Daily Press: An episode of The Best of British by the Sea was shot in Norfolk. Pictured: Ainsley Harriott and Grace DentAn episode of The Best of British by the Sea was shot in Norfolk. Pictured: Ainsley Harriott and Grace Dent (Image: Channel Four)

The food critic then went on to describe Benoli's pumpkin cappellacci as the star of the show.

She said the handmade pasta was "soft, firm and lustrous" and came in a "sea of sage butter with salted ricotta".

The adventurous menu was also admired by the critic, calling it "hectic and helter-skelter".

And it wasn't just Benoli that Dent was impressed by.

She said "good things" have been happening in the East Anglian food scene since she last came to the region 10 years ago, name-dropping Farmyards, Benedicts and The Assembly House.