Spaniards Inn

Autumn, more than any other time if year, makes me forget my sworn city girl status and yearn for the countryside. Luckily, that craving for red-golden leaves and the feeling of being miles from anywhere can be satisfied a hop, a skip and a jump from central London - on Hampstead Heath.



A bracing walk calls for a hearty lunch, and the Spaniards Inn has been filling that hole for centuries.
It is an atmospheric old pub, full of nooks, crannies and history. In Dickens's Pickwick Papers, it is the scene of a tea party in the countryside, featuring huge quantities of bread and butter. A few centuries on, the portions are still quite hearty, though the food is luckily more varied.
The husband (for whom I am still thinking of a suitable nickname for this blog) had the 10oz rump steak (£16.25). It was juicy and rare, as ordered, and came with some peppercorn butter. Flavoured butter seems to be the trendy thing for steak at the moment, and in this instance it worked quite well. Lighter than the traditional creamy peppercorn sauce, it let the meat shine through more while still adding a bit of zing.

My attention was caught by the salad with avocado and halloumi, until I realised that it was the exact same dish as the one I had really enjoyed at the Island Queen in Islington a few weeks earlier -- the two pubs must be owned by the same people. So, in the interest of trying more things, I changed my mind at the last minute in favour of the tart with figs, goats cheese, pecans & roasted squash (£11.25). It was a good mix of the sweet and savoury, and went some way towards reversing my broad distrust of figs.
The house red was perfectly drinkable. The half of ale came in a cute half pint tankard, although it could have been better kept. The vegetable accompaniments were also a bit of a letdown - my tart came with an overpowering mound of deep-fried greens (kale?), while the steak was paired with some decidedly anaemic chips.
Overall though it was a nice meal in a lovely setting - not worth the journey in its own right but a great end to a walk on the magnificent heath.

Spaniards Inn, Spaniards Road, Hampstead, NW3 7JJ; Tel: 020 8731 8406 www.thespaniardshampstead.co.uk

The Gunmakers

Some restaurants pride themselves on having a mission or a premise. The Gunmakers, judging by its website lays claim only to a menu and an address. And, judging by its food, it's on to a winner. On the downside, it means I can't tell you the history of the place or its name, as Clerkenwell is historically more famous for its printers and Italians rather than guns.
In a world of chain sandwich shops and crumbs over keyboards, the cosy pub felt like a gateway into a less hurried, bygone era. A handful of suits were finishing their meals and their drinks when we arrived at about 2.30pm on a weekday.



In one corner, the bar man had started on his lunch. His mackrel looked very good, so we ordered that. The husband pronounced it delicious, and even finished off the accompanying beetroot - a vegetable he normally winces at.



I went for the chorizo toad-in-the-hole, which further confirmed my new-found love of the Spanish sausage. It worked really well with the batter, adding a stronger, more vibrant flavour than the usual English banger. Definitely one to try at home, along with the celeriac mash which came on the side.
We washed it all done with well-kept Mad Goose ale, and I left wishing I still worked in the area and could sneak off for lunches there on a regular basis.

The Gunmakers, 13 Eyre Street Hill, Clerkenwell, EC1R 5ET; Tel. 020 7278 1022 thegunmakers.co.uk; Lunch for 2 around 30 pounds

Coach and Horses

It was a Friday night and the Coach and Horses was jam-packed with people toasting in the weekend. We'd just been turned away from a new-ish Malaysian/European joint on Farringdon Road and were getting rather worried about our chances of a good un-prebooked dinner. Luckily, a door in the back wall of the pub revealed a separate dining room.... which was entirely empty.
It was an interesting little extension of a room, with swathes of fabric on the ceiling creating a vaguely nautical feel.
We picked a bottle of rich pinot noir (£18.30) and hungrily perused the menu. Despite the busy bar and our isolated location (we remained lone diners throughout), the service was very efficient and friendly.



In the salad, the sweet pear contrasted well with the creamy Cashel Blue cheese, while the rocket leaves helpfully diluted the richness of flavours (£5.60).



The Jerusalem artichoke soup (£6.00) was lusciously creamy, with crispy vegetable crisps on the top and some luscious, half-melted foie gras floating inside -- although I have since discovered that it's very easy to recreate (most of) the experience at home.


To follow, I enjoyed the gamey, generous pile of venison ragu (£13.50), a superior version of the tradition spag bol.



The husband had a heart-warming Morcilla stew (£13.20), with chunks of the Spanish blood sausage and beans, crowned with a poached egg.

Back in 2004, the place won the Time Out Best Gastro Pub award, though Harden's suggests it could have become a touch complacent since then. We certainly didn't see any evidence of that -- it was a very good meal for perfectly reasonable prices and with good service. But with, inexplicably, so few dining customers, I wouldn't be surprised if the kitchen gets discouraged before too long.

The Coach and Horses, 26-28 Ray Street, EC1R 3DJ; Tel. 0207 278 8990' www.thecoachandhorses.com; Tube: Farringdon

St John, N19 - best ailoi in Archway

We are very lucky to live within about a 15minute walk of literally dozens of great restaurants. The downside though is that it's all too easy not to discover what delights (or otherwise!) lie further afield. So the invitation to deepest, darkest Archway for some live music sounded like the beginning of adventure. We stumbled upon a corner of Ireland in the middle of North London. In the Lion pub, a man was belting out melancholy songs and strumming his guitar while old, weather-worn men and women nodded along, sipped their pints of Guinness and got lost in reveries of days gone by. The slightly younger customers were more cheerful, stomping out an energetic jig in the corner. Equally character-full Irish folk looked on from slightly caricaturised, faded paintings on the dark walls. The penalty you pay for living in central London is that you'll never get a gem like this as your local. (And while it may not offer any interesting beers, the other advantage of not being in central London is that it's cheap - I paid £11 for three pints and a large wine.)
As the food on offer at the Lion didn't seem to stretch beyond mini cheddars and bacon flavoured fries, we were reluctantly forced to leave in search of sustenance. With unusual foresight, I had looked the area up in my Harden's guide and had discovered that there was a well-reputed gastro joint just round the corner called St. John. Here too the drinks de jour were whiskey and Guinness, although there were also a couple of real ales on tap and the crowd was much younger. From the chalkboard menu, the leg of lamb came with all the trimmings you would expect in a generous roast, as well as a highly-rated onion sauce. The roast half of chicken with a peppercorn jus was also amply sized and beautifully juicy. I opted for the mussels with chorizo and onions, the salty sausage contrasting well with the tender crustaceans. The highlight of the meal though was the aioli. It was proffered when I asked for some mayo to go with the delightfully crispy home-made chips. It packed a serious punch of garlic and tasted freshly made. We got through two pots. It was heaven, and worth the trek to Archway in its own right.

St John, 91 Junction Rd, N19 5QU; Tel. 020 7272 1587. The Lion public house (also known as Sweeneys), 1 Junction Road N19 5QT. Tube (for both): Archway

The Angelic - pre-shopping lunch haven

Somehow pushing your way around an overcrowded Sainsbury is so much more bearable if it is preceded by a nice pub lunch. (I've learned to go easy on the pre-shopping beer though, as then the contents of the supermarket trolley have a danger of veering off in to the impractical/expensive territory.) For such weekend lunches, The Angelic comes into its own. Big windows keep the white-walled room bright even in a drizzly December. There are rustic-looking wooden tables and brown leather sofas, as well as a randomly stocked book case if all the weekend papers have been nabbed by the time you arrive. On our last visit they were putting up a Christmas tree, a huge one thanks to the tall ceilings. There's a good selection of beers -- from Russian Baltika to well-kept real ales -- as well as a menu of freshly made juices and smoothies for anyone on a detox. The prices aren't cheap, but this is upmarket Islington after all. They do weekly specials for Sunday lunch (two roasts, and something veggie), but unlike a lot of places they also offer the normal menu. Before the mains, we are served a wooden board with soft white bread and dinky bowls of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, coarse sea salt and pepper. It takes the edge of the hunger nicely and mains aren't far behind. The roast pumpkin, leek and Stilton strudel is very nice, and helps convince that pumpkin is an under-rated vegetable. (I re-discovered it when in a bid not to be wasteful I fried up the Halloween pumpkin covered in flour, with apples, cream and cheese.) I was a bit apprehensive about the accompanying bubble and squeak rosti, remembering a pile of non-descript tasteless lumpy mash-type stuff that used to be served with fry-ups in Bristol's York Cafe. This version though was crisp, nicely and seasoned and delicious enough to inspire me to try my own version at home. The duck, orange and apricot sausage (£10.50) tasted strongly of the ingredients, which so many posh flavoured sausages don't seem to manage. It was served with puy lentils -- one of my favourite accompaniments -- and sautéed leeks and red currant gravy. We could have lingered there all afternoon (they have board games too), but sadly Sainsbury's was calling...
The Angelic, 57 Liverpool Road , Islington, N1 0RJ; Tel: 020 7278 8433; Tube: Angel; www.theangelic.co.uk.
PS I now have a shiny new mobile phone with apparently a decent camera, so will endeavour to sneakily capture my food in the future in a bid to make this blog a bit more colourful.

Queens Arms - not so bad in the West

The pub is very well hidden, down a cobbled alleyway (sorry a mews) off a residential road lined with those prime, white, Edwardian terraced houses. (Before I really knew London, I always wanted to live in one of those, though I have since realised that they prevail in the West, where as I very much prefer the East side.) It’s also just that bit too far from shopping delights of the Kings Road or high-brown delights of South Kensington museums to avoid being over-run with crowds. There are wooden tables (high and low), wooden chairs. To be honest, I don't really remember the decor -- it didn't really stand out much from the standard modern pub mode. The pints of prawns though were luscious, even if they had run out of gloriously lumpy home-made aioli and had to resort to bog-standard mayonnaise for dips. And they were only £5 a go -- about half the price of those at The Well and firmly knocking on the head the myth of the West being more expensive than the East. The roast chicken and sausages and mash ordered by other people in the group smelled gorgeous and the portions were huge. With the hindsight of the next day's hangover we probably should have followed their example and had more than the prawns too. Which brings me to the great selection of drinks, with several real ales, my beloved Aventinus and the bright-pink strawberry-flavoured Fruli which seems to have cornered the market in beer drinkers who don't actually like the taste of beer. I also really liked the atmosphere -- there were people enjoying a weekend lunch and the papers on their own, girlfriends catching up over a bottle of wine -- it was a proper, leisurely weekend vibe. If I ever do end up in one of those Edwardian houses, having this as a local would go a bit of the way to soothing the departure from East London.

Queens Arms, 30 Queens Gate Mews, SW7 5QL; Tel. 020 7581 7741; Tube: Gloucester Road

King Eddie - gastro pub Stratford style

Fate -- in the form of a very bizarre theatrical performance -- abandoned us in Stratford around dinner time. Time Out's website lists three places within a mile of the tube station. There's Nandos, Pizza Express and, amazingly, something billed as a gastro pub called King Eddies. Intrigued, we pick the pub. It is as a pub should be, with a great selection of beers, lots of aged dark wood, low beams, old-fashioned leather chairs and even a very cute courtyard space out the back. Other tables were occupied by professional-looking young couples, as well as by some single people reading books or the broadsheets. The menu, printed on a sheet of A5, sounds very promising. The blackboard specials promised an endive salad and brawn on toast. I am sorry, I know it was my reviewer's duty to have tried it. But I wanted the sirloin steak with triple-cooked thick-cut chips and béarnaise sauce (£11.50). The generous pool of sauce had a pleasant tangy flavour, and the crispy chips were perfect for mopping it up. There was also some pretty nice cabbage on the side. But the steak was tough and overcooked. I'd say it was probably bordering on "well done" when I'd asked for "rare". The husband had the tuna steak with balsamic salad and hollandaise sauce (£10.50). It finally arrived as the rest of us were finishing the steaks. The salad was very nice but the tuna again suffered from getting far too closely aquainted with the grill. It was tough and horrible - a pointless waste of good quality, expensive fish. But really, it was probably our own fault. We were fooled by the accomplished sounding menu and forgot that we were in Stratford. We should have played it safe and had the sausages and mash (£7.75). And the pub is still a lovely place to linger over some delicious beers, including a cherry-flavoured offering from Sam Smiths (£3.20), an ale-style wheat beer called Gold Blade (£3.20), Old Peculier (£2.85) and Doombar (£2.60). Here, being in Stratford is actually an advantage as you get change from £10 when buying a round for three.

King Edward VII (King Eddie), 47 Broadway, Stratford, E15 4BQ; Tel. 0208 534 2313; www.kingeddie.co.uk

The Eagle - worth pawning for

Another favourite which has hitherto evaded a review is The Eagle. Firstly, any pub that stars in a nursery rhyme -- and in a depraved one at that -- deserves serious kudos.
Up and down the city road,
In and out the Eagle,
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel
It all sounds innocent enough, but actually the last line is said to refer to local workers pawning their tools at the end of a working week (a weasel is apparently some kind of yarn measuring device) to fund a few rounds down the pub. Very educational.

I'm not sure many people pawn stuff to drink here these days, though it's not the cheapest place in the world. But it has plenty to recommend itself. There's a great selection of drinks, including regularly changing cask ales. Inside, lights twinkle around the dark wood bar. There's pretty wall paper and chandeliers. And best of all there is a huge (by central London standards) beer garden, with ramshackle furniture and leafy trees. During the last world cup, they found lots of old portable tellies somewhere (some black and white!) plonked one on each table in the garden. Seeing as this is a food-reviewing blog, I suppose I'd better mention that too. The menu features burgers, snacks, roasts etc -- all simple, but good stuff that you'd expect in any gastro pub these days. Last week, we sampled the salads (£8ish). Mine featured warm new potatoes, chorizo, cheese, sundried tomatoes and green leaves. It was gorgeous. The husband's Caesar salad had iceberg lettuce, generous shavings of parmesan and chunks of char-grilled chicken. Normally though I skip the salad and go for potato wedges -- either with cheddar and chorizo or with stilton. For about £3.50 you get a large plate which perfectly soaks up the beer without denting your night out budget too much.

Incidentally the other Eagle , the so-called original gastro pub on Farringdon Road, is somewhere I haven't taken to. We visited twice over the years and it always felt a bit chaotic and rushed. The menu above the open plan kitchen seemed limited (last time I had something which turned out to be not dissimilar to philadelphia on toast, which for about £6 was a bit much). But may be I am just uncouth - I'd rather pawn my wares for good old potato wedges.

The Eagle, Shepherdess Walk, City Road, N1 7LB; Tube: Old Street

The Freemason - worth the wait?

It was a gloriously warm and sunny Sunday. The kind when you want to linger over a pint or two and a leisurely lunch and perhaps the Sunday papers, enjoying the sunshine outside a pub. The day was all the more precious for being in October, and therefore entirely unexpected. But while for us the weather was a pleasant surprise, left The Freemason running very short staffed -- I doubt they had banked on filling all the outside tables at this time of year, as well as all the inside ones. After eventually getting served some well-kept pints of Tiger ale (£3) by the only guy serving customers behind the bar, we got all indecisive over the short menu on a clipboard. But we needn't have hurried with our decisions -- upon going up to the bar to order we were informed that the chef was about to go into meltdown and could we please wait for 15 minutes or so before ordering. We asked for some olives and bread (£1.50) as an interim measure, which arrived as we were finishing the first round of drinks. The olives were green and juicy. But the bread was a bit bland and there was no oil for dipping, leaving us to scramble for any juices left in the tiny olives pot. Some remonstrating with the waitress eventually led to our eating order being taken and, to be fair, the food arrived not too long after that (though about an hour after we first sat down). The burger (£9.75)was a bit too well-done for my taste, though I had been warned it only came medium. The home-made aioli served with the accompanying wages was heavenly in its creamy garlic-ness. The others all went for the roast pork belly (£11.50), resplendently crackling and served with all the usual roast dinner trimmings. It was good, filling grub, and -- mellowed by the sunshine and a second round of beer -- we were prepared to forgive the slow service. But then we waited half an hour for the bill, and only succeed in receiving and paying it when we marched into the bar. The barman asked us if he was correct in assuming we did not want to have a 10 percent service charge added on. No, oddly enough we did not. But it was still a pleasant afternoon, and I hope that the service issue was indeed due to the unseasonable weather (still, surely they could've called in some reinforcements - would have been worth it for all the tips they wouldn't have lost!) rather than just to general incompetence.

The Freemason,2 Northside, Wandsworth Common; Tel. 0203268580; Rail: Clapham Common

Queen Boadicea - gorgeous, at least in looks

Queen Boadicea is gorgeous. Well, perhaps not the original ruler of the Celts (according to a contemporary account, "she was very tall, the glance of her eye most fierce; her voice harsh. A great mass of the reddest hair fell down to her hips. Her appearance was terrifying"), but certainly the name-sake pub in Clerkenwell. Both inside and outside, walls are lined with those old-fashioned shiny brown tiles. There are chandeliers, antique looking tables and chairs, comfy chocolate brown leather sofas. menus chalked up inside gilded frames and striking wall paper of silvery tree stems stretching upwards out of blackness. And yet for all the grandeur it manages to retain a cosy (albeit reasonably elegant) pub feel. In line with the elegance, the short cocktail menu (2 for 1 on Tuesdays) sounds tempting. The wine menu (starting with a Chardonnay around the £13 mark) is less inspiring though, and they lose a wad of brownie points for offering only bog-standard lagers and Kronenbourg Blanc in the beer department. The food selection is also pretty limited -- nibbly things, burgers, a couple of pies, sausages and mash -- but quite well suited for a casual pub. The lamb burger (£6.50) was big, juicy and utterly delicious. Unfortunately, it was also somebody else's. My steak sandwich (£6.50) was encased in an attractive focaccia bun but the rib eye was sadly decidedly on the well done side (I'd asked for rare). It wasn't bad, but I've had much better. One of my companions extolled how the chicken and leek pie (£7.50) delicately balanced the flavours, but I thought it was pretty bland. The chips were gloriously crispy, and came with unbidden mayonnaise. But the mayonnaise was bizarrely served in the same pot as ketchup and my portion of carbs was heavily salted (unlike that of the doubly lucky lamb burger orderer). So I guess this Queen isn't going to win any battles in gastronomy. But then I think I am getting fussy in my old age. It is a beautiful pub and a a lovely place to linger. They have pub quizzes and are starting to do live music on Sunday afternoons. Still, in an area so well endowed with lovely pubs, the lack of decent beer may yet be the deciding factor in the great to return or not to return dilemma.

Queen Boadicea, 292 St. John St, EC1V 4PA; Tel. 020 72789990; Tube: Angel; www.thequeenboadicea.com

Somers Town Coffeehouse - a posh pub in disguise

Chalton Street has had a slightly up-and-coming aura for years, and so far the up has been rather slow -- although momentum could speed up with the reinvention of Kings Cross as a hub for chic French tourists rather than brash ladies (and other creatures) of the night. So far though, the upness has brought with it Somers Town Coffeehouse -- not in fact a coffee house at all but a rather posh pub. We judged that it was too cold to linger on the outside table under the trees. Inside, the space is split into a pub and a restaurant, with the bar straddled between the two. The specials are chalked up on the boards, and you can have two courses from there for about £12, or choose from the more extensive (and expensive) menu. From the set menu I chose a very generous goat's cheese tart to start, followed by wholesome calves' liver with mash (which gave yet more proof that liver gets unfairly bad press in England). All was washed down with glug-able house white and mopped up with slices of baguette. The damage came to about £20 a head, and I left very happy to have found a nice place to go to in this convenient (for meeting people who are coming into or leaving from Euston and King's Cross) but largely unlovely part of London. In that category, I would also like to mention The Doric Arch , an old-fashioned pub just outside Euston station, serving well-kept Fullers ales (1 Eversholt Street).

Somers Town Coffeehouse, 60 Chalton St, London, NW1 1HS; Tel: 020 7691 9136; Tube: Euston

The Larder - Good enough too last?

What with Wagamama vouchers in Time Out, the tastelondon card in my wallet and toptable high in my list of internet favourites, opportunities for discounted noshing are plentiful. The downside is that when I do end up going somewhere full price, the experience is always slightly tarnished by that slightly ripped off feeling. This was certainly true of the Loft - a new bar/bakery/eaterie on St John Street whose list of main courses starts with the crisp pork belly for a hefty £17.50. The place is all wooden tables and tea lights, with freshly made bread at a counter in the back (judging by the olive offering I picked from the bread basket, the doughy stuff is nice, but nothing overly special). The service was very friendly, voluntarily topping up the tap water (from a rather beautiful glass jug), bringing an after-thought order of crispy thick cut chips in a couple of minutes, apologising profusely for having run out of mayonnaise. In the interest of frugality we stuck to main courses. The aforementioned pork-belly was indeed very crisp, and melt in the mouth tender. It was gleefully lapped up by its orderer, though I thought the Chinese-y sauce was overpowering. The salmon was also nicely done and apparently the ravioli with which it came was delicious (and wolfed down before I got the chance to sample any - humph). My wild mushroom pancake with three different types of cheese was pretty much the cheapest thing on the menu at £9.50. It was plumply stuffed with a great selection of forest fungi, but their delicate flavours were sadly drowned in a cheese sauce that tasted strongly of unadvertised mustard. The sauce went very well with the chips though. Add a beer each from a list which pleasingly features a couple of bottled ales (£4.50) and London Pride on tap (£3.50), and the bill for the three of us weighed in at £65. A bit much, I thought, for one course and a drink in a casual place. Perhaps this fact, combined with the abundance of other eateries in the area (some of them truly outstanding) explained why only about four other tables were occupied. It was a Tuesday night, but we couldn't help wondering whether the Larder would survive on Clerkenwell's fickle restaurant scene. So we resolved to return - as long as there is a special offer or someone else offers to foot the bill, of course.

The Larder, 91-93 St. John St, EC1M 4NU; Tel. 020 76081558; Tube: Barbican or Farringdon

The Bowler - bowled over

(It's been suggested that I start adding 'tag lines' to the headlines of my reviews, so you can look forward to lots more bad puns in the future!)

Perhaps it's the Bowler's location (hidden down a side road just off the buzzing Exmouth Market) that has caused it, by our rough estimate, to change owners four times in as many years. One particularly dodgy incarnation featured it painted bright pink on the outside with the atmosphere of a rough council estate pub on the inside. Now though it is a much more pleasant shade of dark green and the interior (and clientele) have changed beyond all recognition. The room is light, with wooden tables and brightly coloured flowery, swirly paintings on the walls -- with cleverly matched lamp shades attached to each one. The menu is short and simple -- about five light bites like chips and nachos, and about 10 mains. Trying to be healthy, I resisted the temptation of baked camembert with mushrooms, bread and gherkins (will have to come back and try it another time!), and opted for the lower-calorie-sounding duck breast in honey sauce with greens (£7.95). The duck was browner than I would have liked, but tasty enough, and the greens were lovely. But sadly it was all drowned in the yucky (a very technical restaurant reviewing term) sweet sauce and I could not finish it. My companion though struck gold with the steak sandwich -- a veritable bargain at £4.95. A baguette came piled with rate slices of beef, lovely sun-dried tomatoes and caramelised onions, accompanied by a large mountain of onions. And I was more than happy to fill up on the chips (billed as Belgian, £2.80), which were thin, clearly home-made and deliciously crispy. A bottle of viognier (£13.25) was a delicious accompaniment to the bargain-priced meal, and we left determined to return.

The pub offers 15% off the total bill to holders of the Wedge Card www.wedgecard.co.uk. I've never heard of it before, but a quick look at the website suggests that it's a much better bet than the www.tastelondon.co.uk bit of plastic. The Wedge is the brainchild of the guy who launched Big Issue, it costs £20 with half the cash going to a charity of your choice and it offers discounts at loads of (small, local, non-chain) shops as well as bars, clubs and restaurants.

The Bowler, 28-32 Bowling Green Lane, EC1R 0BJ; Tube. Angel or Farringdon

The Green

Recently we were musing on the fact that there are so many perfectly good restaurants in London these days that many never earn a return visit - despite being perfectly good. So it is refreshing for once to review a place that was perfectly terrible and has fully earned the right not to be returned to. The Green is perched on a corner at the bottom of Clerkenwell Green, in a building which once housed a rather pretentncious outpotst of Jean-Christoph Novelli. Its current incarnation features a cosy, light bar downstairs and a restaurant area upstairs. The beer selection is good, including ales and a German wheat offering on tap. Posters outside promised live music and it seemed like a good place to while away the Sunday evening. We didn't fancy the roasts chalked up on the board (£14ish, but apparently including a free pudding), and opted instead for the "Tasty Tapas" menu on the opposite wall. The thin chips (£3.50) came in a generous heap with an unusual accompaniment of peppercorn mayonnaise (not bad, but not a patch on aioli). They chips could have been crisper but all in all they weren't bad. The green olives (£2.30) were small and unexciting, but edible. But that, it turned out, was as tasty as the tapas got. The chorizo (£3.80) was cooked - probably in a microwave - to within an inch of its life and then some. It also tasted strongly and unpleasantly of pepper (and not of the advertised "red wine and herbs"), securing the "worst chorizo I've ever tasted" rosetter by a very long margin. The bean stew came cold in its terracota pot and was sent back. The second attempt was scalding, straight out of the microwave (which in fact may well have been used for the entire cooking process). For £5.50 the pot featured two types of beans, slices of raw onion, tinned tomatoes and no discernable herbs or spices. There was no bread to be had because, apparently, the organic loaves are delivered daily except Sunday. The "live music" also proved somewhat of a let down - a couple of young men set up their gear under the clock and one of them strummed his guitar for a couple of songs before settling down to a large serving of tapas. They were still eating when we left 45 minutes later.

The Green, 29 Clerkenwell Green, EC1R 0DU; Tel.020 74908010; www.thegreenec1.co.uk; Tube/Train: Farringdon

The Princess

The area around Hoxton Square is full of yummy places to eat. But the Princess gastro pub just off Great Eastern Street doesn't seem to suffer from the plethora of alternatives -- both the bar and the upstairs dining room were full on our Thursday night visit. The small pub is cosy and informal, with well-worn wooden tables and Tim Taylor as well as London Pride on tap. The daily specials chalked up on the board included BLT, seafood pasta, risotto and merguez sausages with cous cous -- all good, tasty-sounding and filling stuff at around £8 a plate. But one of my dining partners was feeling fussy, refusing to be tempted by such pedestrian food and ushring us up the metal spiral stair case into the restaurant. This is a much more formal affair, with crisp white table cloths and beautiful patterned wall paper on the back wall (whose leitmotiv reappears on the menu). We bypassed the pricey long and pricey wine list -- the front page is all above £20, though I did find something towards the back around the £16 mark -- in favour of well-kept pints of the ale. My cinnamon chicken breast was juicy, further moistened by a filling of feta and a grilled lemon and accompanied by beautiful shavings of courgette and pine nuts. The vegetarian dish (slow cooked wild mushrooms with parmesan on a pool of polenta) was surprisingly nice, somehow transferring polenta into something actually quite edible. The confit of duck was also good, though a bit dry for my taste. The portions were decent enough to satisfy our appetites without the need of more than one side order (garlic green beans, £3.95) -- just as well considering each plateful came in at around the £14 mark. All in all, a lovely pub, but the more pricey and elegant restaurant is probably best saved for a special occasion when you are willing to dent your credit card a bit more.

The Princess; 76 Paul Street, EC2A 4NE; Tel: 020 7729 9270; Tube: Old Street

The Duke of Cambridge

Hidden in Islington side streets, The Duke of Cambridge was one of the original gastro pubs, and probably the first to devote itself entirely to all things organic. The first time we visited, some 5 or even 6 years ago, the concept was still quite novel (at least to us). The food was nice enough as was decor with plain wooden tables that are now firmly associated with such establishments. But we very found it pricey and had not felt any great urge to go back. The other night we stumbled across it again, by accident, and I was keen to give it another go. Perhaps we were more anesthetised to London prices and the way of pretentious gastro pubs? Yes and no. The prices did not make us balk, but (for example) £14 for a moderately sized portion of lasagne with some salad leaves on the side still seems over the top. Some of the food is on the hippy side, so you may well not find much on the menu that appeals. We shared tapas sized plates of chorizo and tortilla slices (around £3 each) and a not hugely inspiring platter of three cheeses - cheddar, an under-ripe brie and a Shropshire blue (£8). The organic bitters (from a selection!) washed it down nicely, the place was cosy enough and the food was nice enough. But I stand by my initial assessment and it will probably be quite a few years before stumble across this pub again.

The Duke of Cambridge, 30 St Peter's Street, N1 8 JT; Tel. 020 8986 5384; Tube: Angel; http://www.dukeorganic.co.uk/

The Narrow

Gordon Ramsay has picked a great location for his first venture into the world of gastro pubs. The Narrow is bordered by water on two sides, with plenty of outdoor tables from which to watch boats zipping along the Thames or queuing up to moor in the Limehouse Basin. Inside, it is very much a modern pub, buzzing with well dressed office workers from near-by Canary Wharf. The beer selection is impressive, including a good selection from the Meantime brewery just down the river at Greenwich. The wine list is reasonable, with plenty of options under £20. You can pad your stomach with some bar snacks (we overheard a man explaining to his dainty looking non-English date what pork scratching are...). Or you can opt for a full meal in a side dining room -- assuming you've booked first. The menu is split into starters, "on toast", and mains, mostly in the classical vein of British cookery that is enjoying a popularity revival. My potted crab was lovely, generously portioned and not too heavy on the butter. My partner's "on toast" features three plump sardines. For his main, he went with the exciting pig's cheeks (the ones from the face) with mashed turnips. I had the "Welsh rabbit" (apparently that's the traditional spelling). It was quite small, but the waiter had warned me about that when I said I'd have it instead of a main course. It was also quite nice. But not nearly as nice as the one I'd had in St John a few weeks ago. The Narrow invites the comparison with a similar style of food, but unfortunately it doesn't quite come up to the extremely high mark set by St John. The prices are very reasonable, even without taking into account the Ramsay name on the menu. The food is nice, and promises to change frequently. And I probably will be back -- if only to enjoy the view over a few drinks. But I couldn't help leaving The Narrow a bit disappointed.

The Narrow, 44 Narrow Street, London E14 8DP; Tel 0207 592 7950; www.gordonramsay.com/thenarrow; DLR: Limehouse

Norfolk Arms

Who would've thought that a lick of cream-coloured paint could make such a big difference? The Brunswick centre has morphed, almost overnight, from a dump, to a shiny, trendy, desirable hotspot. The area around the centre also seems to be basking in new energy, with lots of lovely looking pubs. The Norfolk Arms has tables on the street for the sun-lovers who are brave enough to withstand the spring chills. Inside there is a cosy, European feel. The tables, chairs, floor and wall are all roughly coloured in creams and whites. The wine comes in glass tumblers and there are yummy-looking sausages hung behind the bar. We started with 1/2 pints of juicy prawns served with delightfully yellow home-made mayonnaise for dunking. The main course (chosen from the £10 set menu as part of a token-collect offer in the Times) was lentil and squid stew - a hearty bowl of puy lentils, blackened further with squid ink and sprinkled with bits of squid. My one complaint was that it would have tasted even better with the addition of some juicy chorizo. Tapas plates carried past us to other tables looked pretty good too and we needed a big dose of will power to resist ordering more wine (a very quaffable rose for £14) and a plate of charcuterie "for dessert". This is the sort of place you could easily linger in on lost afternoons.

Norfolk Arms, 28 Leigh Street, WC1H 9EP; www.norfolkarms.co.uk; Tube: Russell Square

Sutton Arms

About 5 years ago, Sutton Arms on Carthusian Street - just round the corner from Barbican tube - used to serve lovely food, posh-gastro-pub-style in its tiny upstairs dining room. Then they changed the chef and we had one of our all-time worst meals, in an empty room with just a scowling waiter who insisted on listening to a loud talk programme on the radio. Now it's time for a third re-incarnation. The gastro bit has gone, and the menu offers a short list of traditional pub staples like burgers, sausage and mash and fish cakes -- as well as the proudly-advertised stone-baked pizzas, all for around £8ish. We ordered at the downstairs bar, where a popular pub quiz was in full swing, and carried our pints up to the quieter dining room. The pub offers a good selection of cask ales, though at over £3 a pint I think it's competing for London's most expensive ale award. The burger was very pink -- suits me fine, but the friend who'd ordered it was less happy (he's not keen to be reminded that meat=flesh, apparently). The chips were unremarkable and there was no vinegar to liven them up. The pizzas weren't bad, topped with fresh mozzarella and cherry tomatoes and (optionally) mozzarella. But equally they were nothing special - a pub up the road does much bigger ones, with more interesting toppings and for about £3 cheaper. Add in some pretty surly service, and I was left with little desire to go back -- until the next reincarnation. Except may be for the quiz.

Sutton Arms, 6 Carthusian Street, EC1M 6EB; Tube: Barbican

Hat & Feathers

After years of anticipation, rumours and delays, the beautiful building on the corner of Clerkenwell and Goswell Roads finally got spruced up with a lick of lemony yellow paint and demurely opaque windows and has rediscovered itself as a trendy pub with gastro tendencies. The room downstairs has been beautifully restored, with the wood panelling, the chandeliers and the windows giving a nod to a bygone era. But the place manages to give a thoroughly modern, slightly aloof air, with its modern furniture and a wide selection of expensive continental largers on tap. We filled up on London Pride (£2.80 and the only ale on offer - perhaps a miscalculation by the management as they frequently seem to sell out), and perused the bar menu. The dishes range from the simple ( soup, wild mushrooms on toast) to the bizarre (confit of duck risotto with orange and parmesan) and most mains are under the £15 mark. Two of us couldn't resist the fillet steak, served in a fairly modest portion but presented like a work of art with a slick tower of potato and a dollop of melting horse radish cream (£16). It was delicious, but to me felt somehow too pretentious for a pub. The steak sandwich was simpler though again on the small side (about £8), whilst fish and chips was another work of art - the fish in thin tempura batter stacked on a jenga of thick chips. For me the chips (we ordered two extra bowls, at £3.50 each, which was just as well given the portion size) were arguably the best bit -- truly chunky, yet crisp and served (unbidden) with dishes of ketchup and good quality mayonnaise. Upstairs, there is a "proper" restaurant with a ( even) less casual menu at around £22 for 2 courses, but on an earlier visit it lacked diners and atmosphere. The food in the bar is nice, and the bar itself is not without charm, but a cosy "local" this ain't and at these prices I don't think we'll be back too often.

Hat & Feathers, 2 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1M 5PA; Tel. 020 7490 2244; Tube: Barbican

Edited to add that this place now has a rather nice outdoor terrace with heaters, where you can also snack from the bar menu.