Moro

Moro
Exmouth Market
London EC1
020 7833 8336

This is another restaurant that everyone's heard of, but which offers truly fantastic food, value, atmosphere and service - and again, is easier to get into than somehow everyone thinks. On bustling but relaxed Exmouth Market, it is famous for its Andalucian/Moorish/Morroccan food, a fantastic tribute to the amazing Arab/European crossover of Southern Spain and Northern Africa.

The food is extremely imaginative, subtle yet confident, and the menu constantly changes reflecting the seasons and the chefs' current preoccupations so you can go back many times and never be bored. When we went last week, we had fantastic starters of a sort of buffalo-milk cottage cheese, broad bean salad and crisp breadsticks, and superbly light calves brains sauted with crisp capers and served as a salad with gorgeous chunks of preserved lemon. Mains were equally stunning - perfect roasted chicken with lentils and chanterelle mushrooms, and a wood-roasted pork chop with crispy potatoes and piquillo peppers, which attracted the comment from the boy of being unusually succulent and flavorsome (so there you go). We had a good bottle of a Rioja that neither of us had tried beofre (Vina Amezola Crianza) which at £22 we found extremely good value, a praiseworthy wine in every respect.

It is hard-ish to get a table with a tablecloth, ie in the restaurant proper, on most days - but the trick here is that you can sit on the street at a metal table, or at the bar, and eat anything you want - which to me is a much more relaxed way to eat anyway if you aren't on a smart date. They also do a fantastic tapas selection, very reasonably priced, so if you just wanted a glass of manzanilla and some nibbles, this is definitely the place to go in the area. All aspects of a good restaurant are there - good decor, good service, etc - aspects that should be standard across any establishment but sadly are all too rare and therefore need to be praised.

The score:

Food: Very good. I would come back all the time (A). Always imaginative, precise and vibrant. Caters both to the adventurous and the more traditional eater.

Wine: Good, almost entirely Spanish, list - strong and reasonably priced (house wine £12.50, and upwards from there). Good by-the-glass selection and sherries, as you would expect.

Value: I think very good. Not the cheapest ever, but starters are £4.50-£6.50 and mains £13.50-17.50, which for the quality is extremely good. Portions are really generous too. If you are on a budget, go for two starters and you will probably be full, or eat tapas (£2-£3.50 a pop) with their great home-baked bread.

Atmosphere: Smart, if you want it to be, but relaxed, if you want that too. I.e., you will impress a date for sure, but if you're a sloucher like me you also fit in fine with the mostly Clerkenwell-ish, designer-scruffy, grown-up not show-offy crowd.

Veggie friendliness: OK. Tapas and starters are great for veggies. Fish is strong. Generally only one veggie main however.

Top tips: Ask to eat at the bar or at one of the outside tables. Eat tapas late at night with a glass of manzanilla and get full for a tenner.

Hamburgers

Hamburger Union
Garrick Street
London WC1

I'm afraid I'm going to use this 'review' as a bit of a rant on hamburgers in the UK. I don't mean to single out Hamburger Union, where I ate lunch yesterday, as a sole case of malpractice - a place which has got gleaming reviews from every rag in town must probably and sadly be among the best of a bad bunch.

But the fact is, the British don't know how to do a hamburger. I only now know what's actually wrong with them since I've been in the USA for a year. But both before I left and every time I've been back since, I have eaten hamburgers regularly here (generally of the posh kind as I can't face McDonalds) and they just aren't ever right. I've had them at many a gastropub and Borough Market stall, at the Eagle Diner, which is supposedly the most American of the lot. I think I even had one at Ed's Diner in Soho which looks exactly like an American diner. I can't really remember but I think their's was OK-ish and a little bit more authentic. But basically, y'all's hamburgers suck.

So let's just get a few things straight.

1. A hamburger is meant to be fast food and if you need both hands to eat your hamburger, you have failed. You must be able to eat your hamburger with one hand while driving with the other.

2. It's meant to come with fries. Not fat chips, fries. This is because a hamburger is meant to be a rather juicy kind of thing, so you want the contrast of the crispy fries.

3. A hamburger is not meant to be juicy because it has a huge great hunk of meat in it - remember the one-hand rule, the burger should be pretty flat and not fatter than a half-inch or so. It is juicy because of all the extras. Tomato, pickle (sliced gherkin not Branston), onion, shredded iceberg lettuce, mustard, mayo and ketchup. Y'all get the extras wrong all the time. What I've just listed is called 'all the way'. If you don't want any of these, you are entitled to subtract them but these items should be standard, whether it's a cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger or my faithful plain ol' hamburger. And there don't need to be any extras on top of this - cucumber, mushrooms, caramelised onions etc just don't fit in. OK, if you are making your hamburgers at home you can do what you want but if you want to do a real beef burger don't give me any of this. And the pickle is REALLY important.

4. A hamburger is also juicy because the bread must be soft and not some dried-up, over-toasted or over-dense fashionable soughdough, ciabatta or wholegrain. Soft, white bread and if you must toast it, only lightly. And the bread shouldn't be floury as the flour gets everywhere and that's bad when you are driving, or when you are eating in a diner in London with your date.

5. Obviously, it should have had an acquaintance with flames. I actually can't remember every seeing an American burger that didn't come off a grill, but they must exist so I'll not be too sure. But charcoal sure does make a hamburger taste better.

So basically, a hamburger is something you shouldn't mess with, especially if you are billing yourself as a diner. Get it right, guys. One hand eating. Fries not chips. Pickle without paying extra. Soft white bread. Easy. They'll never be as good as an American burger but at least they might stave off my junk-food pangs.

The score:

Food: Well, not authentic, obviously. But happy cows and chickens, and their chips aren't frozen, so I'll give them brownie points for effort.

Value: Decent. A hamburger is about a fiver. Pay extra for pickle, damn them.

Atmosphere. Nothing bad or good either way. Clean, modern, fairly busy. A useful place, I suppose, to stop off at and get lunch when you have to be in Covent Garden and when you are pressed for time and money and don't want to eat at an unethical chain.

Drinks: Yes, they have beer alongside their shakes. It's Pilsner Urquell, make you own mind up.

Veggie friendly: Quite. They have fairly good-looking veggie options.

Mangal, E8

Mangal
10 Arcola Street,
E8 2DJ map
020 7275 8981


If I’m ever down this way, normally en route to the Arcola theatre, I try and stop by this restaurant. It’s an Ocakbasi Turkish restaurant, or open charcoal grill to the English. It’s no-nonsense, amazingly tasty cheap grills.

If imitation is the greatest form of flattery then Mangal has been flattered by many other nearby restaurants, often with variations on the Mangal name or outright called Mangal.

There’s no menu, you just look at what’s being prepared, point and order. Mixed grill is a fair bet if you don’t know what you want. Sweet juicy lamb cutlets, spicy sausage, marinated chicken wings, mildly hot green chilis, all delicious and infused with grill and charcoal flavour. Depending on the day you can also order slightly unusual grill cuts; liver, sweetbreads, kidneys, and quail.

There’s a generous salad and veggies can order grilled aubergine, although it’s not great for veggies. You also get as much bread (pide and sac ) as you want.

It’s worth knowing the side dishes you can order. All Turkish staples but a good contrast to the grilled meats.: Humus (crushed chick peas, tahini, lemon juice & garlic), Cacik (cucumber & a hint of garlic in creamy yoghurt sauce), Ezme (tomatoes, parsley, onions & lemon juice finely chop with spice), Patllcan Salata (lightly grilled aubergine, peppers chopped & topped with yoghurt & butter).

Food: Exemplary grilled meats, Turkish style. I go back whenever I’m close by, although it’s probably worth trekking across London for.

Wine: they do beer but it’s bring your own bottle.

Veggie friendliness: Not great, but there are the side dishes and grilled aubergine.

Atmosphere: It’s not exactly romantic (as it’s nodding to the cheap and cheerful) but the atmosphere is great. Cheerful, smelling of charcoal, lively. Service is efficient and you can just ask your waiter what’s good as there’s no real menu. If your date doesn’t think you cheap, it’s a good adventure or maybe it’s just the type of dates I prefer to go on. Not one if you are allergic to smoke.

Value: Amazing value. Two cokes, as much as you can eat bread. Huge salad and more than enough meat for two including lamb cutlets, rolled lamb steak, chicken wings, green chilis, spicy sausage, and chicken pieces cost £22 in total. You can easily get away with £4-10 per head for a very filling meal.

Top tip: Ask for one of the side dishes. Don’t be shy in asking the waiter or point to good things on the grill. Bring your own wine, if you like.

Anchor and Hope, Waterloo

Anchor and Hope
36 The Cut
London SE1 8LE
Tel: 020 7928 9898

The Anchor and Hope falls into the class of resurgent British cooking exemplified by St John, and indeed it was started by ex-St John and Eagle-ites. They have even poached the Food&Life team's friendly St John barman Alex recently, as I was surprised to see when I went last night.

The food was last night every bit as good as it was before I went to the States last year. I do wish that it wasn't quite so similar to the St John menu (although it goes a little more European than St J) but quality-wise, there is much to praise and the value is excellent. The boy and I had four dishes between us to share, a carafe and a glass of wine and coffee, for £42.50 which is pretty fantastic for central London. We could have had only one dish each from the more substantial portion of the menu and gotten out paying even less.

The menu includes new British staples such as a whole crab and mayonnaise, cured sea trout with pickled cucumber and dill, and of course much meat - foie gras, cured beef and celeraic, and the St John-style larger meat dishes for 2-4 people. Last night we were sticking to fish as I am so deprived of piscine pleasure in the States, and our dishes were precisely executed and varied - from the smoked sprats with horseradish through to a very good cuttlefish risotto - the pieces of cuttlefish melting and not at all chewy, and the risotto very well balanced between crunch and mush, as it should be.

Wine-wise we had a little bit of experimentation as we wanted white (very unusual for me) and so we had a testing glass of a Basque white (bright and a little fizzy) which was good, but we decided we couldn't drink a whole bottle of it, and then a carafe of Verdicchio. The wine mark-ups are very reasonable and for once, tap water is offered rather than requiring a special request.

The A&H has its idiosyncracies - no bookings, little Duralex glasses for both wine and water, and the service is not always the speediest. It is a pub with a room for the restaurant, so don't go expecting tablecloths and you may be asked to share a table, as it is invariably busy. But for the kind of food I like to eat - unpretentious, precise but characterful, and understatedly sophisticated - it is perfect and great for an area which can be a bit patchy food-wise.

The score:

Food: Unpretentious modern British. I would go back happily all the time.

Wine: Varied and characterful, mostly European wines from non-standard areas (ie not all claret and chardonnay).

Veggie friendly:A weak point - less veggie friendly than St John, I would say. But good fish/shellfish.

Atmosphere: I would like to be taken here for a relaxed first date, if I were still in the dating game - its lively enough that silences wouldn't be awkward, the food gives you plenty to talk about. But not somewhere to take someone who like starched cloths and hovering waiters. And they have real beer in the bar. No booking means it's probably not a great choice for a party.

Value: Good. Dishes are around £4-£20, rising to £30-45 for 2-3 person dishes. You can get away with paying pretty little and fill up on the good bread.

Top tip: Go early-ish because of the no booking rule, and have a pint at the bar while you wait, accompanied by the very good tapas-style nibbles they sell.

[Ben’s extra tip: if you can’t wait for a seat in the restaurant bit ask to eat in the pub bit or even at the bar. I’ve never managed to get a seat in the restaurant bit but have had fabulous meals in the pub bit. They may have changed this rule but it’s worth asking]

Pierre Marcolini chocolate, W8

Pierre Marcolini
6 Lancer Square, off Kensington Church Street,
London, W8 4EH map
Tel: +44 (0) 207 795 6611

Just a quick one for chocolate lovers. Pierre Marcolini not only does great artisan chocolate, but you can have astonishing hot (or chilled) chocolate at the cafe.

Try the single country cocoa and compare the difference of a cup of Ecuador (earthy, almost flowery) and Madagascar (creamy, hint of sweat pea, spice). Yum.

The Ledbury, Notting Hill, W11

The Ledbury
127 Ledbury Road
W11 2AQ

I paid a bit more than I was hoping to at the Ledbury, but this is a restaurant gunning for Michelin stars, I expect. It has probably raised the Notting Hill food standards. So apart from the costs, I’d recommend going.

The Ledbury is owner Nigel Platts-Martin's fifth restaurant (The Square, Chez Bruce, The Glasshouse and La Trompette) and it is chef Philip Howard's second (The Square) although I think a young Aussie does a lot of the cooking in the kitchen (Brett Graham sous-chef at The Square).

Enough of the history, down to the restaurant and food. I and the girl went on the second night of opening, so need to go back again to see how it’s kept up. I expect the terraces will be lovely in the summer, if there will be a summer.

Before you get to the food, you are welcomed by a charming maitre d and ushered into a sleekly designed space. All dark wood and quiet expensive elegance. (Warmer than Tom Aikens, sleeker than the Green House)

Then there is the sommelier. I think her name is Dawn and she seemed to be charming the pants of every single table. As my philosophy for these type of restaurants where the prices are starting to hurt already, is to go for out of the way, interesting wines at the lower price end rather than anything remotely well-known (eg mainly no Bordeaux then) and we found an interesting Spanish bottle at £20-25 which was yum.

Right. The food. Of course it was great, in the modern French style. An amuse bouche, dishes like roasted scallops with basil puree, rabbit and morel lasagne, veal with posh macaroni cheese, bream with courgette puree in lobster foam… but I am going to go and try it again to make sure it’s replicable.

Atmosphere… well what do you expect, it is Notting Hill types edging to the business end, where I can fit in nicely if I want to but some times want to escape from. If you’re feeling anti-establishment not one to go for. Also I didn’t see anyone who looked like they were in their 20s. Not that this necessarily matters. I wouldn’t go there on a first date either unless business posh food elegance will impress, it is slightly too shiny dark black wood, flawless linen, black uniform staff and black and white leather chairs. But then again, it’s pretty good if you want to have a conversation and I think not a bad place to celebrate something like the end of a deal (!)

If you liked The Square, Tom Aikens, Gordon Ramsey, you are likely to like this. If you are poor, maybe not.

Food: Dazzling French but there’s a possible bum note or two on the menu, so you can’t have everything. I’d come back again but could only do so regularly if someone rich was paying.

Wine: Amazing wine list. Amazing Dawn. Amazing prices. But you can pick up yum for £20 or £200.

Value: Um. At dinner: 3 courses and wine is going to £100 a head. Tasting menu is £55. It’s £40 for just the standard 3 courses, so if you are a bit economising like me, you could just get away with £50-£60 a head. Lunch is better at £20 for 2 courses. Hard to justify as a local pop in brasserie.

Veggie friendliness: if you take out the fish, it’s not that veggie friendly, although I am sure the kitchen will rustle you up something. If you have a veggie date, I’d go somewhere else.

Top Tips: (they might have sorted this out but) the taps are not intuitive to use. Ask before you go in the toilet. Trust me, it will save you breaking the taps which everyone else has done. Milk Dawn for her wine knowledge don’t be afraid to go cheaper and unheard of rather than classic. Be prepared for 3 courses.

The Wolseley

The Wolseley
160 Piccadilly, London
020 7449 6996

Everyone thinks this place is a) really expensive, b) really hard to get a booking at and c) really snooty.

Wrong. It's actually no more expensive than your average Cafe Rouge, you can get in pretty easy if you're not fussed about eating slightly earlier or later than normal and because this is an extremely classy restaurant, the staff and atmosphere couldn't be more relaxing, polite and generous. These guys - Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, of the Ivy fame - really know what they are doing when it comes to running a restaurant, and they know that one of the most essential things is to have the best possible staff and treat every single customer as a king or queen, even if you've only come in for one of their exquisite pastries and a cup of tea, you're wearing holey trainers and be-draggled by the rain (as I usually am).

The food here is always impeccably reliable. It's not trying to be, and isn't, some kind of Michelin spectacular - it focuses on classic European cuisine (coq-au-vin, cassoulet, Wiener schnitzel, Dover sole) with a Mittel-Europa bent. The 'concept' is put very well on their website, as 'a Cafe & Restaurant in the grand European tradition' - a place where you can get a real Club sandwich, Eggs Benedict, a good steak or a slice of toasted brioche, lean back and pretend you are an outtake from a movie where men smoke big cigars and look like Orson Welles. Which is a pretty fun fantasy to indulge in, and made all the more realistic by the real glamorous people and movie stars who frequent this place - a huge former banking hall and Wolseley car showroom with gilded Chinoiserie and beautiful tablecloths.

So, if the food may not shock and surprise you, it is always incredibly well-executed, precise and very classy in that understated way. Little touches (two different types of quince compote with my spit roast belly pork and black pudding, when I went at Christmas) show you that someone in the kitchen is putting serious thought into the balance and composition of these 'simple' dishes. It's an object lesson in really good cooking. (And my 18 year old cousin works in the kitchen. I'm so proud.)

In line with the theme of doing the classics perfectly, this place does a fantastic martini. Makes me feel good just thinking about it. And it opens very civilised hours - 7am to midnight. You can order food here late, people. And they keep a proportion of table back for people to be able to drop in as they are passing (OK, so they will always have space to fit in Nicole Kidman) which somehow sums up how very civilised this place is.

Food: In keeping with Ben's little system, A - would come back often.

Wine: As you would expect, a solid stable and the markups are very reasonable.

Atmosphere: Definitely good to impress your date, to pamper yourself, for pretty much any purpose I can think of when you are in central London. Perfect for after the theatre.

Value: Good. Starters £5-£11, mains £9.50-£27.50, desserts £4-7. You can get away with paying precious little if you order carefully, or if someone else is paying, go all out.

Veggie friendliness: A little limited, unless you eat fish, in which case there's plenty. But their salads, pastas and risottos are good.

Top tip: If you're feeling really poor but want to treat yourself, you can get sandwiches all day, even in the more 'restaurant' bit. Also great for a luxurious breakfast.

The Mitre, Holland Park

The Mitre
40 Holland Park Avenue
W11 3QY map
020 7727 6332

My second visit to this relatively new Holland park gastropub type venture.

Had a decent rib eye steak sarnie for under a tenner and good bottle of Rioja at just under £20, which at that price in a pub, it’s good job it was good.

The steak was rib eye (no provenance on the menu but tasted good) and was grilled rare, as asked, with that slightly charcoal flavour you get from a well seasoned grill. Steak was perhaps a bit thin, but that’s the sandwich version for you. The Girl liked it. And the chips were tasty even if not crispy (probably not twice cooked which you often need for crispiness, in fact I saw a load on the way out sitting in a big box waiting to get dished out, and becoming soggy in the process, I imagine).

The atmosphere was noisy (like last time) and the waitress very pleasant if having to serve a few too many tables.

If you want traditional pub this does not hit the mark, it’s very gastro and a bit try-hard in that respect. The Ladbroke Arms round the corner is more classic pub with good food (although will be crowded and food possibly slow) and for proper pub atmosphere with good pub food you might be better off at the Prince of Wales on Princedale Road also round the other corner. [Prince of Wales also serves Adnams which Hana will approve of]

Still, I’d go back again if I’m in the mood for some quick posher pub nosh and am in the area.

Food: Would go back again, but not likely to be a regular (B)
Wine: decent list from the cheap to the mid-expensive
Value: Starters £5-£10, mains £10-15
Veggie friendliness: OK.
Top tip: Grab a table in top corner with comfy sofa seats.

The River Cafe

The River Cafe
Thames Wharf
Rainville Road,
Hammersmith, London
Tel: 020 7386 4200

I'm not going to go on about how fantastic this place is - everyone know just how important it is on the British culinary scene. I just want to say one thing.

They have a set lunch that is £16 for 2 courses and £21 (if my memory serves me) for three. This truly one of the most outstanding food deals in the city. Yet when I went there last at lunch it wasn't full.

You know that you always have wanted to go to the River Cafe but have been put off by the prices (which are pretty horrendous) and being told you have to book three months in advance. Now I'm telling you that you need worry about neither of these. Get your skates on and book now - and when you get there, think of all that money you're saving and order a bellini, because going to the River Cafe ain't complete without one.

PS. Ben and I once went here, at about midnight after a show at the Riverside Studios or something, and just ate a plate of different kinds of pecorino. And some cake, if I remember correctly. That's the kind of strange and random people we are. [It wasn't the Riverside Studios, I can't remember for the life of me what it was though - can you?!? I just remember being very very hungry...]

Sweet and Spicy

Sweet and Spicy 40 Brick Lane
London
Tel - 020 72471081

Forget the 'Indian' restaurants on Brick Lane serving dodgy smushy food, with annoying greeters outside and hordes of lairy city folk inside. Go to where the real locals eat - Sweet and Spicy.

Despite being consistnely in Time Out's cheap eats, I think every time someone reads that and then decides to go, they bottle out and go to Bangla King or something because once they get to S&S, they think it looks too unhygenic/weird/full of scary Asian men. Little do they know that the people inside couldn't be nicer, you always get into some great random conversation, and its the only authentic Bangladeshi food on the Lane. Yes, it's no-frills - you queue up to get served and sit at formica - but if you are judging on the decor, you probably shouldn't be eating on Brick Lane at all.

S&S has really great chick-pea curry, real biryani where you can actually taste the spices and bite into a cardamom pod or cinnamon stick, great veggie curries all round and proper shish kebab, samosas and so on. It's the real deal, a proper Bangladeshi workers cafe, and it costs about £2.50 to fill yourself up. Take out, or eat in surrounded by posters of Pakistani boxers and Bangla pop stars. They don't sell alcohol - you might be able to bring your own, but somehow I've never wanted to because it's so much nicer to eat like everyone else there, with a glass of water from the big metal jug.

The score

Food: Authentic Bangladeshi street food and curries. The best place to immerse yourself in the real culture of the community and its eating habits. No booze sold.

Atmosphere: It's a workers caff, so if you are on a date with someone who wants to be wined and dined, keep away. But if you want to show off how local you are in the East End and, therefore, how hip you are, it's perfect.

Value: Incredibly cheap - a dish of curry is about £1.50, a biryani maybe £2.50, a samosa or shish kebab wrapped in a flatbread is around 50p.

Veggie friendliness: Very - some of the best things are the vegetable curries, which all taste different, unlike the mush served in most 'Indian' joints.

Top tips: Go late if you want to stock up on food for a week - they'll send you home with bags full of take-out everything which they can't store. See, they make their food fresh...

Mustang Oil, Greensboro, Alabama

Mustang Oil
Main Street and Hwy 14
Greensboro
AL 36744

I know none of you will ever find yourselves in Greensboro, Hale County, Alabama. Or if you do, you will be very lost, trying to get from Birmingham to New Orleans, or something. But in case you do, and just because I can, I'm going to write a hymn of praise to the legendary Mustang Oil.

It's all about the ribs. Yes, they do barbecue pork and chicken, hamburgers, catfish and more, but the reason why Mustang Oil exists is because of its rib plates. Beautiful, melting, tender-yet-firm, sweet, smoky yet sharp ribs, cut up with big shears and weighed on the scales before being plonked on a plastic plate. Then joined with the slaw and their cajun fries, both of which are pinnacles of their genre. Get there just before midday so you can catch the fries when they are really fresh and crispy.

It's almost impossible to say how good these ribs are. But I'll just tell you that my mother liked them. My mother is Japanese, very skinny, scared of rednecks and with a horror of fatty food. But she liked Mustang's ribs...

Atmosphere-wise, it's a classic gas station diner. Formica, rough wood boarded walls, taxidermied stag heads and photos of hunting on the walls, alongside neon signs advertising Budweiser and Miller Lite. The cops eat here, so does the judge, so do the catfish plant workers, and the guys from John Deere down the road. In hunting season it opens at 3 or 4 in the morning to serve breakfast to the early morning hunters.

This place is single-handedly responsible for me putting on nearly a stone while in Alabama.

St John Bread & Wine Spitalfields

St John Bread & Wine Spitalfields
94-96 Commercial Street
London E1 6LZ map
Reservations 020 7247 8724

My umpteenth visit to St. John’s Bread & wine behind Spitalfields, for both business and pleasure. Highly recommended.

I do think you need to be a little careful when ordering at St. John’s with people you don’t know well, as people’s tastes for this food can vary and there’s so much good, it’s best to gain a small consensus and then share. That’s my philosophy anyway. It can also be surprisingly good for veggies depending on what’s in season and this time, we ate all veggie (ok and seafood which strict veggies won’t count).

First, if you’re hungry grab as much yummy bread as you want (normally, I don’t advocate eating too much bread as it fills you up, but it can depend on your hunger status).

Secondly, scour the menu for what’s fresh in season. New English peas (fresh no adornment, just squeeze them out of the pod) and razor clams (garlic, shallots, some vinaigrette) were high on the list. Also French bean salad with duck egg (soft bean, a little shallot for texture and taste, yolky egg) and I had to restrain myself from the foie gras, which last time was melting, buttery and slightly milky, without the hint of bitterness or overcookedness lesser foie gras can have. All in all, excellent on the food front.

Thirdly, check the black board for specials and make sure you get your odre in before they all disappear! They often have great large dishes for sharing like whole leg of kid or should of lamb.

No wine this time, but the wine list is very regional French, I’d go for the lesser known wines and by the cup is fine. The mark up is very transparent as the take home price is also given. This might annoy some, but I prefer to know what the margins are than not. Acutally St. J is probably the mid to lower end in terms of wine mark ups compared to many other restaurants.

The atmosphere can be a bit noisy and occasionally a bit smoky, but it’s always relaxed and the pared back wood floor and white wall (for white I wonder if Ottolenghi took a lead out of the St. J book). It is simple , functional and for me, comforting.

The score:

Food: I go back again & again for both lunch, dinner and some time breakfast (see bacon sarnie tip below). Provenance of food is top notch. One of the only places to get middle white pig (my favourite breed of pig to eat).

Wine: Eclectic, interesting regional French, from cheap to burn hole in pocket prices

Value: Starters £2-£8, mains £10-15 (you can share 3 dishes at £5 and eat lots of bread, for two of you or go all out and be £20 to £40 a head.)

Veggie friendliness: Surprisingly ok for veggies and fish although meat does tend to dominate.

Top tips: For breakfast one of the best bacon sarnies (old spot bacon, home made ketchup). Make sure you check out the blackboard specials for food and wine. Eccles cakes and savouries very good to take back too.