Reviews and Comments of 'Andy Hayler' (253)

A Crowne Plaza hotel in Blackfriars is an unlikely location for a Chinese restaurant, but the dining room has a pleasant, modern feel to it.  There is much wood panelling in evidence, banquette seating and a few cricket-related prints (the peculiar name is to commemorate the recent formation of the first Chinese national cricket team), and there is plenty of natural light.  The chef, Brendan Speed, grew up in a small town between Melbourne and Sydney, but has long been an expatriate: he was previously the head chef of Zuma in Istanbul, following a stint in the Hyatt hotel group. 

The wine list is over four pages, organised by style and draws from a wide range of countries.  Examples are Goldridge Premium Reserve Pinot Noir 2007 at £28 for a wine that retails at around £9 or so, Quercus Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from Slovenia at £22 for a wine that will set you back around £8 in the shops, and at the upper end of the list, Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1995 at £120 compared to a shop price of about £41. For those who want to continue the cricketing theme there is the pleasant Silly Mid On Sauvignon Blanc from Jim Barry 2006 at £26 compared to a retail price of around £9.

The menu draws in different regions of China, and includes a dim-sum section (mostly £5), small plates at around £7.50 and main dishes in the £9.50 - £20 range.  Lobster steamed dumplings (£9.40) had lobster that was cooked perhaps a fraction long, but were certainly decent enough (1/10).  Har gau steamed dumplings (£5.50) featured dumplings of pleasant texture and nicely cooked prawns, though they were a little salty (1/10).  Honey-glazed pork puff (£5) had reasonable pastry but could have done with more filling relative to pastry, and a little more of the the honey glaze, as the dish was a little dry (1/10). 

The best dish was kung-po prawns, stir-fried with a healthy kick of chilli.  The prawns were cooked carefully and were of reasonable quality (3/10).  Gai lan with garlic (£7.50) suffered from having rather large pieces of broccoli, making it hard to cook to a tender state, and for me could have had more garlic (2/10).  I was unconvinced by a stir-fried dish of orange beef, which seemed to me to have too strong a flavour of orange.  Also, while some meats go quite well with a fruit taste element e.g. duck or venison, which beneft from the acidity that fruit brings, beef seems a less obvious vehicle for such a pairing. The Singapore noodles here had quite good texture (2/10).

We finished off with a chocolate fondant that was made from high quality chocolate (Valrhona) and had a reasonably liquid centre, though was cooked just a fraction long; I am also not sure that the raspberries on the side were such a great accompaniment – why not a fruit that was in season? (1/10).

Service was friendly and efficient.  I guess that this location will attract mostly a corporate clientele, but the cooking is competent and is worth considering if you are in the area.

Konstam at the King Albert pub in Kings Cross opened in April 2006. It takes the idea of using locally sourced ingredients to the extent of aiming just for produce grown within Greater London (it manages to get around 80% of its ingredients in the winter, rising to around 95% in the summer). I was curious to see whether pigeon was on the menu, and indeed it was, but this was sourced from Amersham rather than Trafalgar Square. The lunch menu costs £18.75 for three courses. On the a la carte, starters are £6 - £8.50, main courses £12.75 - £17.75 and desserts £6.50 - £7.50, with vegetables £3.25 extra, and bread (from the Flour Station) charged extra at £2.75. Chef Oliver Rowe used to cook at Moro after having worked in Europe.

The short wine list starts at £18 but most bins are in the £25 - £50 range; the list is mainly French, with a few other choices. It features selections such as Leon Beyer Pinot Gris 2006 at £34.50 compared to a retail price of £14, Riesling Grunlack Spatlese Schloss Johannisberg 2007 at £48 for a wine that costs around £24 retail, and the Languedoc wine Minervois Cuvée Selection, Domaine de Rouviole, 2004 at £28 compared to a shop price of about £13. It does manage one English wine, the pleasant Nyetimber Classic Cuvée, West Sussex, England, 2003 at £40 for a wine that will set you back around £22 if you buy it retail.

The restaurant is in a converted pub in an unprepossessing part of Kings Cross opposite a massage parlour. The dining room has some unusual décor: blue painted floor and chairs with rather odd lampshades that look a little like cobwebs, but on a sunny day like today it was pleasant enough; the tables themselves are what an estate agent would describe as cosy. 

A celeriac soup with toasted hazelnuts, chives and sour cream had reasonable celeriac flavour, and the hazelnuts added a texture contrast, though the soup seemed slightly sweet to me, which was a little off-putting (1/10). A simple dish of steam mussels with shallots, cream and beer (from Battersea), flavoured with bacon, was more successful (2/10). 

The best dish was roast pork belly from Amersham, the pork moist but not too fatty, the crackling excellent, served with pumpkins and an apple and elderberry sauce (4/10). Mushroom and leek pierogi (Polish dumplings) with almonds, sour cream and horseradish was decent enough, though for me was light on seasoning: more horseradish would have helped (1/10). 

For dessert a Bakewell tart featured good pastry, and was served with a sloe gin ice cream that (fortunately as far as I was concerned) had subdued gin taste, made from berries they infuse themselves with gin (3/10). Coffee had reasonable taste (3/10).

The bill for two people, admittedly just with a single glass of wine, was just £22 a head plus service. Service was excellent, our waiter knowing all about the provenance of the produce, and seemed to have a real passion the for local produce goals of the restaurant.

Kitchen W8 is a welcome revamp of the old 11 Abingdon Road premises, which has involved an improvement in the décor and, more importantly, in the kitchen. The place is now owned partly by Phil Howard and partly by previous owner Rebecca Mascarenhas (who has the erratic Sonnys).  The dining room retains its split into different, quite cosy, sections with banquette seating around the walls, and seats up to 75.  The wallpaper is a little dark but there are plenty of mirrors to offset that.  There is the obligatory wooden floor, but noise levels are reasonable.  Chef Mark Kempson was previously sous chef at The Square, and also worked at the Vineyard at Stockcross, so has a good pedigree.

The menu offered nine starters (£6.50 - £10.50), eleven main courses (£14 - £24.50). with extra vegetables at £3.50 and half a dozen desserts (£6.50).  Cheese is £9.  Urbina Seleccion Rioja 1998 was listed at £40 for a wine that costs around £14 to buy, my favourite Louis Roederer non-vintage champagne was £65 compared to a shop price of around £25 (prices vary wildly for this wine by the way, so check around), and Little Yering pinot noir was £20.50 for a wine that retails at about £7 or so.  Breads were white and brown sourdough from Boulangerie de Paris, which has established itself since 2005 as perhaps the classiest UK bread supplier in my view. The brown sourdough in particular was excellent, with a lovely crust; this is supplemented by a pumpkin and onion bread that is made from scratch, and had nice texture (6/10 bread).  

Below are brief notes from my most recent meal.

Ravioli of Dorset crab pasta had fresh and good quality crab, albeit served with slightly softer pasta than would have been ideal.  There was a creamy sauce flavoured with lemon and fennel, and some iceberg lettuce (4/10). 

Rib eye steak (from Ayreshire) had pleasant, though in the case of this piece of meat the ageing was just a little longer than optimal.  Matchstick chips were decent, though not as crisp as I would have liked, though they were at least properly seasoned (5/10 overall for this main course).  Pot-roast guinea fowl was flavoured with bacon choucroute, served with a sauce of golden raisins and hazelnut.  The meat was cooked carefully, though it was far from clear what the hazelnuts added; they have quite a strong taste which rather dominated the dish (4/10). 

Rhubarb food was enjoyable, the rhubarb adding just the right level of acidity to the dish, while a blood orange sorbet had good flavour (5/10).

This Sicilian restaurant is on the site of what used to be Passione, in busy Charlotte Street. The narrow dining room is split into two parts, and has the regulation wooden floor and plain cream walls. Chef Santino Buscigli is from Sicily, but was not in the kitchen on the night of my visit. The menu had antipasti at £8.50 - £11.50, pasta ranging from £6.50 up to £18 for the truffle risotto, main courses from £17.50 to £26, with set menus for lunch and pre-theatre at £19.50 for three courses, or £17.50 for two courses.

The six page wine list is entirely Italian, and features a few wines from Sicily. We drank the excellent Felsina Bererdenga I Sistri Chardonnay 2007, which was priced at £44 for a wine that has a retail price of around £17. The lovely Antinori Tignanello 2006 was listed at £135 compared to a shop price of around £52, and at the upper end of the list, Massetto Tenuta dell’Ornellaia 1999 was £550 for a wine that will set you back around £360.

As we browsed the menu we snacked on enjoyable arancini (rice balls), which had a risotto centre flavoured with cheese and lightly fried shell (5/10) and good green olives. Appropriately, there were also some excellent smoked almonds (Mennula means almond in Sicilian).

I began with seared salt crust tuna with sweet and sour red onions. This was a successful dish, the tuna of good quality and the onions a good foil for the fish (4/10). Also good were carefully seared scallops on a bed of Puy lentils, with baby spinach, a little chilli, and almonds (4/10).

Unfortunately the last savoury course was a mixed bag. Risotto with Umbrian black truffle was very good, the rice having good texture and flavour from a proper stock, the black truffles fairly generous (4/10). Yet linguine with lobster, basil and tomato suffered from seriously overcooked lobster, more Michelin tyre than Michelin star, and pasta that was a little under done (1/10), while gnocchi with almond, tomato and basil pesto were simply a soggy mess (0/10).

Desserts dragged the meal back into positive territory, with a selection including Sicilian cannoli filled with sweet ricotta cheese, plum and frangipane tart with custard and spiced Sangiovese granite, and chocolate and almond torte (4/10).

Service under the smooth Angelo Todaro was very good throughout. The bill came to £67 per head. Overall this was an enjoyable if uneven experience (the chef not being in the kitchen probably did not help matters), but the place felt genuinely welcoming.

Pizza East is another venture from the Soho House group, who have the private members club Shoreditch house here, with this pizzeria open to non-members. The building décor could be described as post-industrial, and indeed the “post” bit may be superfluous in this description. I literally wandered past it initially, assuming it was some sort of abandoned warehouse, and only when you pop around the corner do you see anything resembling an entrance. This in itself looks like an entrance to the kind of place that would feature in one of the “Saw” horror film series, but if you press on through the stairwell then you make it to a welcome desk with some charming reception staff.

The main room still has the feeling of a warehouse with its exposed brickwork and pipes, and lighting seems to have been something else that the owners economised on. I have never eaten at “In the Dark” (where you are served by blind waiters in total darkness) but this is heading in that direction. One tiny night light was the only illumination anywhere near our table, and if I held the menu up to the candle I could read the top corner of the menu (just). I resorted to taking the menu over to a waiter’s station and holding it under a lamp, then ordering, as unless you have the ocular facilities of a bird of prey this is about the only way you can make out what is on offer. Perhaps I am just getting to be a bit of an old buffer (OK, maybe that boat has sailed), but I find this level of lighting absurd. Indeed our waitress confided that the staff struggle with it too, for example not being sure whether they have wiped the tables down properly.

The menu features over ten pizza choices (with toppings that feel like a Californian pizzeria rather than an Italian one e.g. “prawns, tomato, majoram, chill”), but also other Italian dishes, some starters and assorted main courses, as well as various antipasta. Starters are £5 - £7, pizzas £7 - £13, main courses £10 – 18, while desserts are £4 - £6. The one page wine list majors on Italy, starts at £17.50 and had selections such as the Sicilian Nero d’Avola Montalto 2008 at £21.50 for a wine that will set you back around £9 in the shops, while the Washington State Duck Pond Chardonnay 2007 was listed at £28.50 for a wine you can buy for around £11. At the upper end of the list, the lovely Tignanello 2006 was listed at £85, which is not bad for a wine that costs £51 retail.

Calamari were deep fried and were quite decent, generous in portion size, the squid not chewy and the batter reasonably light (3/10). The pizza itself had a nicely puffed-up base (cooked in gas-fired ovens), and toppings of acceptable quality, though as a pizza (2/10) this is a long way below the standards of Franco Manca (but at twice the price). Pork belly was dried out, with borlotti beans, somewhat soggy cavalo nero and a rather insipid salsa verde (barely 1/10). We didn’t make it to desserts. Coffee was adequate (2/10).

From a food perspective there is nothing particularly to recommend this; the pizzas are better than some high street chains, but a long way from the best you can find in London. Our waitress was very good, friendly and efficient, and in general the staff seemed well drilled and effective, which help produce a positive atmosphere and explain why the place was quite as full as it was. The Soho House group seem to be able to make just about anywhere successful, producing simple food but with above-average waiting staff in trendy settings, and Pizza East follows that pattern.

Sorry about the photos, but to be honest the only camera that would take a good picture here would be one of those night-vision ones that the military use.

This is that rare thing, an iconic restaurant. With its striking, cavernous open space with picture windows, and dishes later regarded as classics like its scallops with pea puree, this was a pioneer amongst British cooking when it opened in 1987. After establishing this restaurant as a ground-breaking force in British cooking, Rowleigh Leigh (who trained at Le Gavroche) moved on from Kensington place in December 2006 to his own venture Café Anglaise. These were big boots to fill and recently these were taken by Henry Vigar, who worked under Bjorn van de Horst at the ill-fated Noisette. The head chef is now Daniel Phippard, formerly sous chef at Alimentum in Cambridge.

The dining room is still striking, more than two decades on, with its floor to ceiling picture windows, wooden floor and bright, enticing space. It was six years since my last visit, and our initial experience did not bode well. After being seated, it was if we had been placed in some sort of virtual black hole as regards the waiting staff. Waiters looked on, waiters passed by, and yet no menu appeared, no one offered us a drink, no one acknowledged our existence. After a couple of minutes this was mildly amusing, but as time moved in it became stranger and stranger, as if we had stumbled into an episode of The Twilight Zone. There weren’t that many staff, admittedly, but other tables had dishes brought, and I vainly, and increasingly despairingly, tried to get any form of attention. Eventually fifteen minutes had elapsed since we had sat down, and we were no closer to getting a menu. Feeling a little like Michael Winner, I then used my mobile phone to call the restaurant. I could see the red light on the main phone blinking yards away, and eventually the restaurant manager responded and picked up the receiver. At this point I asked if the table by the window could please see a menu. To his credit, after an understandably surprised pause, he duly arrived with a menu and wine list.

The wine list stretches to eight pages. Jean Marc Pilot Chassasgne Montarchet 2004 was listed at £84 compared to a shop price of around £29. The excellent Meerlust Pinot Noir 2006 was a quite heavily marked up £48.50 as against a retail price of around £15, while Valle Perdido Malbec 2007 was £25 for a wine you can buy for about £8 in the shops. The menu itself was a modest £25 for three courses, with vegetables a chunky £4.25 extra. Bread was a choice of sourdough or whole grain slices, prepared at “another restaurant in the D&D group” and adequate, not quite as fresh as would be ideal (2/10). I began with pheasant cannelione, resting on a bed of puy lentils, with celeriac and chestnut crumb. This was very good, the pasta perhaps a little soft in texture, but the puy lentils cooked well, and the pheasant tasty and decently seasoned (4/10); the portion size was on the modest side, as was the case with the soup. Smoked haddock chowder was flavoured with chives and thickened with cream, the haddock itself properly cooked, though in this case a little extra seasoning would have helped (3/10).

Sea bream was of good quality and carefully timed, served with excellent Charlotte potatoes, and a smear of enjoyable Bordelaise sauce, made from red wine, bone marrow and (according to the menu) truffle. This was a successful dish, the fish tasting good, the sauce having reasonably good flavour, the potatoes a pleasing texture, though the celeriac was a little unusual, being neither puree nor regular celeriac, but something in between (4/10). Truffled cauliflower risotto had acceptable texture and pleasant cauliflower flavour, the stock used being absorbed well enough into the rice. If there was truffle here it was exceedingly subtle, and again bolder seasoning would have improved the dish (3/10). Green beans on the side were a little undercooked but harmless enough (2/10).

Daniel’s background as a pastry chef came through with desserts. Rhubarb jelly and ice cream was served in a glass jar and conceptually was a fine dish, with Coteaux du Layon ice cream and, on the side, a pair of almond financiere. The rhubarb itself was good, though the financiere were a little dry, but the problem was with the ice cream, which had good taste but a grainy texture. Seemingly they use a Pacojet to make the ice cream, so the problem is not with the equipment; this dish was new on the menu, and hopefully will be tweaked as it has potential (3/10). Much better was rich chocolate marquise, served with mandarin sorbet and a few blobs of crème Anglaise (custard) – the texture and flavour of the marquise proving excellent (5/10). Coffee was a decent measure, if a fraction bitter. The bill came to £115.95 without service, and the service was, after the initial odd aberration, perfectly pleasant, and they were very nice about the problem at the beginning, which counts for a lot.

Overall this was an enjoyable meal, once they had remembered that we actually were in the restaurant. The cooking was at all times competent, with an attractive menu and touches of class. At £25 for three courses in the evening this is also a more than acceptable price given the area.

Adam’s Café has been trading for an impressive two decades, no mean feat for a local restaurant.  It is located in an unpromising site on the busy Askew Road, and trades as a regular café at lunch, but a Tunisian restaurant by night.  The chef is Tunisian, and his English wife runs the front of house.  The dining room has yellow walls, green floor and some prints of maps of Tunisia on the walls.  There are rather uncomfortable café style chairs but linen tablecloths.  

The wine list is a bit of a joke: choices such as “St Emilion £14” reads like something from a restaurant in Somerset from the 1970s.  Amongst the dross is a real surprise: Chateau Musar 1996 (though it is really 2001) at £24 compared to a retail price of at least £17.  Apparently they are about to revamp the wine list, which would be welcome, though pesky details like the growers seem to be a step too far based on the bemused look on the face of the manager when I suggested it.  Wine glasses also appear to have been bought at a car boot sale circa 1970, with no tulip shape to keep the aroma of the wine from dissipating. The menu is a very fair £16.95 for three courses.  Bread was a choice of white and brown slices, and was decent: bought in from the large commercial supplier Delice de France.

I was surprised to see an amuse-bouche: pickled vegetables and minced lamb balls: the pickles were decent, though the lamb balls badly needed the harissa they were served with to liven them up (1/10).  I began with a pair of sardines, which sadly were cooked too long and so were rather dried out, served with a pleasant chermoula sauce, a Moroccan sauce made from coriander, garlic, lemon and olive oil; this was actually quite good, the lemon giving a welcome freshness.  The dish was 1/10, though the sauce was better.  Stella tried Brik au thon, a filo pastry sandwich containing tuna and herbs with a poached egg.  Although the pastry was rather greasy, the overall dish worked well, the egg and tuna a sensible combination  (easily 2/10). 

For main course I had tagine with chicken, olives, potato and pickled lemons.  The meat was certainly tender, dropping off the bone, and the lemon added welcome acidity, though the overall effect was something of a mush (1/10).  Sea bass was basic but cooked decently, served with adequate bought-in chips (1/10). 

Desserts appear to be almost entirely bought-in from suppliers.  We tried Crepe Barbere, Moroccan style pancake with honey sauce, which was, to be honest, just bad.  The pancake batter was over-fermented, as evidenced by the holes in the batter, and the honey sauce appeared to be absent without leave (0/10).  I ate bought-in baklava, which was better.

Front of house service from the co-owner was efficient if somewhat bemused at times.  Overall, it is a pleasant neighbourhood place that shows mostly tolerable technique, and it clearly appeals to the locals, with its interesting menu and low prices.

Although Boho Mexica is in an unpromising site on Commercial Street, it is aiming higher than the formulaic TexMex food that we have sadly grown used to in London: there is not a burrito in sight here. There is only a cursory wine list but they have Bohemia, for me the best Mexican beer, and I am reliably informed that the margaritas were fine. The premises is split into separate restaurant and bar areas, though the former is very casual, and so the whole place is effectively a casual bar serving snacks. 

You are encouraged to try a couple of the snacks per person, followed by a main course, and this we did. Guacamole Tia Patty was one of the least good dishes, the avocado fresh enough but lacking spice or seasoning (0/10). Much better was Caldo Tlalpeno (£3.95), a soup with smoked chipotle and shredded chicken, thickened with chickpeas; this has plenty of taste and the chickpeas were good, having just a little firmness left (3/10). Prawn cocktail Acapulco style (£5.45) had decent prawns and a lively sauce (1/10). A red salsa with tortilla chips appeared to be freshly made and had a good chilli kick (1/10).

Tacos were offered as a trio of small soft corn tortillas with assorted toppings. Tinga Poblana (£3.50) was shredded chicken cooked with tomatoes and chipotle chile sauce, and was rather bland (1/10). Better was slow-cooked pork served with salsa and coriander (£3.50), the pork fairly tender and the salsa freshly made (2/10). 

One of the best dishes was Tostados de Ceviche (£5.45), a pair of crispy tortillas topped with sea bass that had been marinated in lime, lemon and herbs. The fish was topped with a salad of lettuce, tomatoes and Serrano chile. The had a pleasing freshness, the fish fresh and the salad good, the spices and citrus marinade working well (3/10). 

There was even a mole sauce on offer, chicken with a chilli and chocolate sauce (£5.45) sprinkled with sesame seeds and offered with a side of herb rice. The chicken itself was a little stringy, but the sauce was decent enough, though I have eaten much better mole sauce in the USA; this had just a little too much bitterness (1/10). Pork tenderloin in a herb sauce (£5.85) was enjoyable, the meat moist and the sauce good (2/10). Corn bread (£5.25) with Chipotle chile had a good fresh corn salsa (1/10). 

Desserts were less reliable, Bunuelos de Navidad (£3.50) being dough fritters drizzled in sugar cane syrup i.e. churros, but these were dried out and disappointing (0/10). Better was a corn on the cob with chilli, mayonnaise, lime and cheese (also £3.50). Service was basic but friendly enough throughout. We ended up ordering practically the whole menu between four of us, and with plenty to drink, £41 a head seemed quite fair; it would be easily possible to spend much less. Overall this was certainly a cut above the usual TexMex offerings in London, and even though there was some unevenness in the cooking this was felt like a place that was really trying to bring a taste of Mexico to London, rather than just cashing on familiar TexMex clichés.

This is the sister restaurant of the long established Charlotte’s Place in Ealing, and the head chef from the Ealing site is now cooking at this newly opened Chiswick branch, which has taken over what used to be the Fishworks premises. Although open just over a week, the restaurant was turning away diners at the door on a cold Tuesday night. The décor is a significant improvement on the Fishworks dining room. It has a cosier feel, a large skylight retained providing some natural light, though lighting on the tables was a little gloomy, as seems to be the fashion these days. There is also a nice bar area at the front of the premises (where the fish counter used to be).

The menu sticks to safe bistro territory; starters are £6-£7, main courses £12-£16, vegetables £3.50 on top and desserts £6. The wine list runs to three pages and is organised by style, with a page of more ambitious wines, and is strongest in its coverage of Italy and the USA. Semillon l‘Ecole #41 2007 was listed at £45 for a wine that has a shop price of about £16, and Tuatara Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2009 at £25 compares with a retail price of about £8. Examples at the higher end are the superb Didier Dagenau Pouilly Fume 2004 at £125 compared to a retail price of around £40 or so, and the divine Kistler Dutton Ranch 2007 at £140 for a wine (if you can find it) that can be bought for around £77. Bread, despite being from the entirely respectable Exeter Street bakery, was not good tonight; it is delivered daily yet seemed unduly hard and tasteless (0/10); apparently they are considering making their own bread, which would doubtless be a big improvement. 

My starter of mackerel fillet was pan-fried and served with a potato salad with beetroot puree and horseradish cream. The salad elements were fridge cold but otherwise pleasant, but the mackerel itself was a little dried out and, oddly for such a cheap fish, was a very small piece of fish (1/10). Smoked haddock and sweet corn chowder featured decent pieces of haddock, though the soup was a little watery and could have done with bolder seasoning (2/10).

My main course coquelet (spring chicken) was probably the best dish, both breast and leg cooked nicely and offered with some girolles and jus gras (i.e. cooking juices chicken and veal stock) on a bed of slightly soggy greens, with a rather dry macaroni cheese on the side (2/10 overall; the chicken itself was better). A pair of fish cakes was pleasant enough, served with a watery watercress and caper mayonnaise (1/10). Honey glazed carrots on the side had reasonable taste but were slightly overcooked (1/10).

A white chocolate cheesecake was adequately made, served with a raspberry sorbet that could have been smoother – and raspberries in February? (1/10). Strawberry pannacotta was decent (1/10), the best element being an excellent shortbread biscuit as a garnish. Coffee was uninspired, a tiny double espresso that was rather bitter (0/10). 

The bill, helped by a soft opening discount, was £38 per person. Service was excellent throughout, the restaurant manager Alex Wrethman knowledgeable and friendly. Overall this was somewhere between 1/10 and 2/10 level for me, showing hints that the cooking could improve beyond this level e.g. the good chicken and shortbread. At prices that are currently quite fair, with an appealing menu, nice room and generally competent cooking, the place should prosper.

Tottenham is not the first location that one associates with fine dining. This area has been settled for over a millennium, yet despite being mentioned in the Doomsday Book, it is fair to say that in the last thousand years this is the first time anyone has tried to put a decent restaurant in the area. Despite its “wharf” location this is not exactly Padstow (the view from our table was over the car park), but the dining room itself is spacious and reasonably attractive, with comfortable leather armchairs. The menu is a mix of British and French, and chef Adebola Adeshin has cooked at Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea. Starters are £4 - £9.50, main courses £12.50 – £24.95, with additional vegetables £3; there is a tasting menu for £45, but only for four people or more. 

The list of 39 wines starts at just £14, with plenty of options under £25, though the actual margins are still normal restaurant level (gross profit 65-70%). Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc was listed at £25 for a wine that costs about £7 retail, Paesi Tuoi Barola 2004 at £50 for a wine you can pick up for around £21 in the shops, and Penfolds Rawsons Retreat Shiraz 2007 at £24.95 compares to a retail price of around £6. I was impressed that they made the bread from scratch, a choice of two rolls, served warm: sultana and cinnamon and sun-dried tomato, with pleasant texture (5/10).

An amuse-bouche was a cup of mushroom soup. This was made from a mix of woodland wild mushrooms, had quite good depth of flavour and was properly seasoned (4/10). 

I began with tiger prawns, resting on a risotto cake flavoured with Parmesan and truffle oil, topped with a few leaves and served with a mushroom and sweet chilli sauce. The prawns were not overcooked and the risotto cake was well made, while the chilli influence on the sauce was subtle and did not overwhelm the rest of the dish (4/10).

Smoked haddock was poached and served with a baked hen’s egg, topped with a mini salad of herbs and resting in a reduction of white wine (Gavi from Peidmont). Haddock and egg is a natural combination, and the sauce was pleasant, with just a hint of acidity (4/10).

I was impressed with my main course of rolled caramelised Gloucester Old Spot pork belly, served with spiced red cabbage and apple puree. The pork was moist, the crackling just right, the cabbage carefully cooked (5/10). Sea bass, although farmed, was timed well, served with crushed Jerusalem artichokes and ratte potatoes with sautéd baby vegetables. This was accompanied by a confit of shallots and Tuscan olive oil. The vegetables were nicely cooked, and the confit worked well with the fish (4/10). Additional French beans and roast potatoes were nicely cooked.

A pre-dessert of strawberry sorbet was unfortunately over-sweetened (2/10). Dessert was an excellent apple tarte tatin, made from Braeburn apples. The apples here were just caramelised but no more, which is exactly how I like them, and although the pastry was bought-in this was a most enjoyable tatin, though an accompanying vanilla ice cream was not rich enough (5/10). A veil is best drawn across the coffee: espresso was bitter and the cappuccino had not so much a foam as a sludge on top of it (0/10 coffee).

Service was extremely attentive and friendly, and all questions about the food were answered authoritatively. Overall the cooking level was between a 4/10 and 5/10 which, given the area, is little short of a miracle.