Levantine

The window, draped in metallic strands of a fringe-style curtain, stands out on an unlovely road within spitting distance of Paddington station. Inside, cushions and shisha pipes transport you into middle East. There are good value set menu options at lunchtime and an a la carte after 5pm. We plumped for a selection of mezze: hummus (£4.50), tabbuleh (£4.25), lamb and pine nut pastries (£4.25) and lamby, lemony Lebanese sausages called maqaneq (£4.75), all mopped up with a selection of breads from the £1.25 a head cover charge. It was nice enough grazing, but did not really stand out from other similar meals in other (and often cheaper) venues across London. The experience was not improved by a waitress who for some reason refused to answer the constantly ringing telephone. So definitely not a destination restaurant, but a decent enough pit stop if you happen to be in the area.

Levantine, 26 London St, W2 1HH; Tel 0207 262 1111; Tube: Paddington; www.levant.co.uk

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

Le Rendezvous

Le Rendezvous is a more informal offshoot of the Cafe du Marche and is equally, delightfully French. We chose from a short menu chalked up on board behind the bar while sipping on a lovely bottle of crozes hermitage (£26). The cote de boeuf for 2 (£26ish) was served on a wooden platter, cut into juicy, beautifully rare thick slices. The veal chops were on a bed of creamy leeks, snugly tucked in under a blanket of morel sauce (£17ish). The accompaniments were very French - a large bowl of crispy lettuce in French dressing (the kind you get in France as opposed to the kind that's sold here as 'French dressing') and a large bowl of thin cut crispy chips. The béarnaise sauce that came with the beef was the best I've ever tasted. I am drooling now just thinking about it.....! It's not cheap and the only beer on offer is Stella, but otherwise this place is pretty close to perfect.

Le Rendezvous, 121 Charterhouse St, EC1M 6AA; Tel. 020 7336 8836, Tube: Barbican www.cafedumarche.co.uk

Flaneur

Flaneur has all the hallmarks of a good foodie venue.
The shaker-style wooden tables and high-backed chairs are squeezed into a well-stocked deli, so you can lust over the inhabitants of the shelves while perusing your menu. The menus are dated, suggesting frequent changes and seasonal produce. The tea selection features Marco Polo, a delightful fruity blend from Mariage Freres, which to us smells of Paris.
But unfortunately, at least on our visit, the hallmarks proved deceptive.
The tea arrived European-style, with the teabag on a plate next to a pot of hot water. It tasted lovely though, and we settled in with the weekend papers to wait for the food... And we waited...
About half an hour after we ordered, a waiter appeared to say they had no rocket salad, and would I like ieberg lettuce with parmesan instead. I said I would not, and resisted the temptation to point out that they'd had more than enough time to nip out to Sainsbury's round the corner and buy the rocket.
So we cancelled the side salad and waited some more....
After another quarter of an hour, starving, and we were considering leaving and heading to the aforementioned supermarket for a sandwich.
The food arrived, unapologetic, just as we were about to leave.
The small artichoke, goats cheese and courgette risotto (£7ish) was actually quite generously portioned. But that was its only good point - the rice was watery and gloupy, lacking flavour. It went unfinished.
The steak baguette (£10ish) was lined with flavoursome mature cheddar, topped with caramelised onions (these would have been easier to eat if they'd chopped them up) and a decent cut of steak. It was actually pretty good -- despite needing some salt -- but it was too late to redeem the meal.
No one asked if everything was alright. So we deducted the optional service charge from the bill and left.

Flaneur, 41 Farringdon Rd, EC1M 3JB; Tel. 020 7404 4422; Tube: Farringdon www.flaneur.com

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

Waterside Cafe, Barbican

The Barbican is a magnificent, if somewhat incomprehensible structure where you can wonder for hours in growing confusion and frustration. But this giant labyrinth has some beautiful oasises (sp?) hidden within and the Waterside Cafe faces out on to a peaceful, beautiful pond with fountains and a beautiful old building across the water. Alas, it is still too cold to sit outside in the evening. Inside, the design is very functionally 70s, but not necessarily in a bad way. Canteen style, the cafe offers three choices of hot main courses -- this time juicy Lancashire sausages with mash, puff-pastry salmon pie, or jacket potatoes in mushroom and cream sauce. I had a large salad (£5.99) from the salad bar, picking new potatoes with salami, couscous with cream cheese, green beans with bacon, salady items, grated carrots and pickled red cabbage. The cabbage was a bit vinegary for my taste, but the rest was lovely, varied and filling. There are also sandwiches, wraps, pre-packed salads, meat and cheese plates and a sweets counter. The bottled drinks include a selection of alcoholic beverages. It's not an atmospheric place, but a very useful pit-stop pre-performance (they serve until 7.30) and the food quality is much better than I would expect from a canteen. I've yet to try the other two options at the Barbican - Searcys is said to be good, but is pricey and seems to only offer multiple course set menus (no good if you have 30 minutes to wolf down food and get to a show). The Balcony Bistro is less formal and currently offers 80s themed menu to celebrate Barbican's 25th birthday, which leaves me horrified and intrigued -- watch this space to see which sentiment wins.

The Waterside Cafe, Barbican Centre; Tube: Barbican www.barbican.org.uk

Loungelover

A plaster cast lion greeted us at the entrance. Two ceramic vases propped up the ceiling in the hall and a hippo's head started at us, open mouthed, from an inside wall. We were entering Loungelover, the bar owned by eccentric decorators behind Three Garcons (fully booked, alas, but we will try again) around the corner and Annex near Oxford Street. This is the kind of place where you don't need to worry about making conversation as any pauses can be spent staring awestruck at the decor. Immaculately made up waitresses handed us hefty leather-bound tomes filled with a bewildering array of cocktail descriptions (£8-10).


Famished we ordered everything from the short tapas-style bar menu (skipping only the £55 sevruga caviar - may be next time!). It turned out to be a variably, beautifully presented feast. A jar of juicy red fish roe, served on a bed of ice, with a jug of sour cream and encircled by cute little blinis was well worth the £18 price tag. The tender smoked salmon came with yet more blini. The cheese and meet platters were generous and varied (I particularly loved the salami with a hint of truffle), served with warm mini-baguettes. There were also two large chunks of pate, a nicely flavoured croque monsieur (though admittedly done more in the Belgian cheese toastie style than the French way), dinky crostinis with various toppings and lashings of salad, olives and sun-dried tomatoes to garnish it all. In my first cocktail, the mix of basil, lemon juice, limoncello and prosecco was sharp and unusual, but delicious. My second choice though accidentally contained whisky (which I don't like). For the feast, and two rounds of drinks for four people, the bill came to under £140. Not cheap, sure, but given the opulence of the decor and the menu it's a pretty good deal. I'd choose for a glamorous treat or somewhere to take to show off in for visitors.

Loungelove, 1 Whitby Street, E2 7DP, www.loungelover.co.uk; Tube: Shoreditch (when it reopens, otherwise bus, walk or taxi)

St John

Every time I go to St John, I am disappointed that squirrel is not on the menu. But it gives me a good excuse to keep coming back. This time the restaurant was fully booked, so we grabbed a wooden table in the cosy, informal bar. I've always been more impressed with starters than main courses here, so was happy to see that most of my favourites were chalked up on the blackboard bar menu. We embraced Fergus Henderson's concept of nose-to-tail eating with some bone marrow, parsley, onions and capers on toast. This is the sort of dish I'd normally squeem away from, but having once tried a mouthful of someone else's I was immediately won over by its silky, fatty richness. Then there was the mustrady Welsh rarebit, the gloriously fishy hunk of anchovy toast and finally a salad of bitter dandelion leaves and sweet shallots. I will admit the last dish left me convinced that dandelions are best used for blowing off the pollen when their heads go all big and white -- rather than for eating. But my companion happily wolfed it down, saying the bitterness was remeniscent of chicory. We washed the feast down with a couple of big bottles grand cru wheat beer from a wide selection of Meantime brews on offer. The service was charming, the tables around us were as taken with the food as we were and the bill came to a very reasonable £40.

St John, 26 St John Street, London, EC1M 4AY; Tel. 020 7251 0848, tube: Barbican, Farringdon www.stjohnrestaurant.co.uk

Acorn House

Last night we discovered that the rumours are true, Kings Cross is indeed 'up and coming'. OK, round the station it's still unquestionably a dump. But veer off on to the dark side streets and you will find not one but two shiny new(ish) restaurants. And not just any restaurants, but the ultra trendy, organic, low-on-the-food-miles and fully-booked-at-dinner-time kind. The organic, eco friendly Acorn House was able to fit us in a bit earlier than the funkily decorated Konstam -- which specialises in food produced in London. So we went organic. The menu featured about 6 starters, 6 mains and a few pastas. The service friendly and the £20 bottle of Chapel Down Bacchus (excuse me while I polish my food miles halo) went down a treat with the delicious bread. We wolfed down two of the surprisingly ample £8 starters between four -- a salad of pheasant with pomegranate pips and dandelion leaves and a plate of smoked mackerel. For my main I had a large plate of pasta with plentiful shreds of tender, slow-cooked venison (£10). My companions happily gobbled up the pork chops, the swordfish with horseradish and the sirloin steak which came with some delicious anchovy butter (£10-14). For a trendy restaurant, the flavour combinations were surprisingly simple, which was a nice change. To accompany an interesting wine list, there was also a good selection of beers from Greenwich's Meantime brewery. The only slight disappointment was the rather uninspiring cheese plate -- but may be that's because there is a limited range of organic cheese out there. Overall though a big thumbs up. Lets hope the rest of the area catches up soon though, and someone opens up a nice bar near by for pre/post dinner drinks.

Acorn House, 69 Swinton street London WC1X 9NT ; Tel 0207 812 1842; www.acornhouserestaurant.com; Tube: Kings Cross

PS I keep meaning to start taking beautiful pictures of the food - with which all the other foodie blog seem to be adorned - but then inevitably get too absorbed in the drinking and the eating and forget. One of these days though...

Potemkin

The rumour goes that there are now 1/4 million Russians living in the South East, served by an increasing number of food shops, Russian-language newspapers and club nights featuring the best of cheesy Russian pop. On the restaurant front though, thing remain a bit underwhelming. There are a few expensive places in richer parts of west and north London, but no consensus about any of them being any good. In the city, there is just Potemkin, which brands itself as 'restaurant and vodka bar' and thus manages to lure in a more varied crowd. The restaurant bit is hidden away in a windowless cellar, and lacks atmosphere unless its full. But you can also eat in the livelier street-level bar section. The menu is reasonably short and unchanging. You can splash out £35 for some black caviar, and/or opt for a more normal starter for about £5. The herring covered in a "fur coat" of yummy Russian salads (selyodka pod shuboj) is delicious, whilst the mushrooms julienne are covered in a rich, bubbling cheese sauce. Beware of the liberally proffered bread though, it's not that nice and they will charge you 75p for each slice. The mains are less impressive than the starters. Stuffed cabbage leaves with buttery mashed potato fell firmly in to the 'nice but nothing special category' and at £9.50 a tad overpriced. The £11.50 beef stroganoff featured over-cooked meat and, according to my companion, not enough mushrooms. On a past visit I enjoyed the Siberian pelmeni dumplings, but for £10.50 you can buy three huge bags of the frozen version from any of the many Russian food shops. The portions are good-sized though, the service is friendly and for many the attraction is the huge list of vodkas. For me, this is the nicer Russian restaurant I've sampled in London - so far. But I'm still looking...

Potemkin, 144 Clerkenwell Road, London EC1R 5DP. Tube: Chancery Lane or Farringdon; Tel. 020 7278 6661; www.potemkin.co.uk

The Admiralty, Somerset House

A cold Monday night in deep mid-winter is probably not the busiest time for any restaurant and on our visit to the Admiralty only 2 or 3 other tables were occupied. Three sides of the room were lined a leather-style banquette in a vibrant turquoise colour. Across white clothed tables, it was faced by equally turquoise chairs. In a very brightly lit room (it was pitch-black outside), this creates an atmosphere more suited to business lunches than romantic dinners and serves to highlight the unoccupied status of most tables. Aside from some spectacular ship-shaped chandeliers, the room was definitely a thumbs-down. The menu, in matching turquoise, is surprisingly reasonable with starters for £6.50 and mains for £12.50, and around six choices for each. The turquoise wine list runs to two pages, at least a third of it taken up with champagne and premium bottles in the £50+ range. On the more affordable side things start at £18, and though the mark ups are high and the range is conventional, it is all perfectly drinkable :-)
In restaurants, I tend to order interesting sounding things. But the started of snail gratin had me completely baffled. A large ramekin was filled with those tiny little white onions that are usually pickled (though luckily this time were not), drowned in a strange mix of tomato pure and bread crumbs with a few lardons for good measure. Hiding inside were a few juicy snails. "Hmmm... interesting..," said my companion. He was being kind. The dish was somewhat redeemed though by a big piece of lusciously cheesy wafer type thing (which didn't go at all, but was yummy on its own). We also sampled a pale pink salmon and scallop terrine which was just terribly bland. The mains took their time to arrive, leaving the waiters plenty of time to ply us with wine at a dangerous frequency. But they did reluctantly provide some non-bottled water and voluntarily refilled that too. When they did arrive, the mains were a huge improvement on the starters. The wing of skate came was beautifully buttery atop of some rather interesting fennel. My gnocchi were huge and clearly home made. They were a touch sweet but this was more than made up for by the huge pile of delicious wild mushrooms, a beautifully cooked quail egg and a little hill of refreshing tomato salad on the side. So we left filled up and happy, with only a modest dent to the pocket. But given the stunning location inside Somerset House, the Admiralty could -- should -- be much better, both in food and in decor.

The Admiralty, Somerset House, The Strand, WC2R 1LA; Tel: 020 7845 4600; Tube: Temple www.somersethouse.org.uk

Bristol

I recently spent a blissfully chilled weekend in Bristol, and figured it merits a brief diversion from the London focus of this blog.

As Bristol is my all-time favourite city so The Hope & Anchor is my all-time favourite pub. It looks very humble from the outside, almost unwelcoming. But inside it's a pub that does good food -- and has probably done so for many years before gastro pubs were invented. The bar is always decorated with interesting floral arrangements and the room is surprisingly light and sunny given the relatively small windows. The simple wooden tables, chairs and benches have witnessed many sploshed rounds and are all the friendlier for it. Round the back there is a lovely garden, just in the right stages of overgrowth. On dark summer nights they use little lanterns. The bar is always well stocked with a good (and frequently changing) selection of real ales, and there are enough wines, ciders and more unusual bottled beers on offer to suit most tastes. There are two boards -- one for daily specials and one for old favourites, like falafael, greek salad or cheesy vegetable pancakes. But the BEST thing are their cheesy chips. Go and see (and taste) for yourselves.

38 Jacobs Wells Road Clifton Bristol BS8 1DR Tel: (0117) 929 2987

The Zetter

The Zetter is an elegant "restaurant with rooms", with big windows and a youngish, not overly pretentious crowd.
The menu is European with a hint of Italy in dishes like risotto and pizza. On our most recent visit, we sampled salmon on pumpkin bliny, juicy scallops with king prawns and a bowl of creamy Jerusalem artichoke soup. All seemed to strike the right note between delicious gastronomy and that familiar comfort factor you want on a cold Sunday night in the middle of winter. For mains, there was steak with melt-in-the-mouth cheesy potato gratin for two of us, and rare tuna on roast vegetables for the third. I have to admit that this place is a favourtite of mine, especially in the summer when they put tables outside on to the quiet square behind the restaurant. They also run events, from comedy nights to evenings with chefs -- and one of these days we shall get organised and attend.

The Zetter Hotel, 86-88 Clerkenwell Road, EC1M 5RJ; Tel. 0207 580 2663; Tube: Farringdon; www.thezetter.com

PS The photo is of sea bream with chorizo and beans, from another visit.

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.

A round up

The Ambassador 55 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QL, Tel 0207 837 0009 Some complain that the décor is plain, but the service is lovely, the food luscious (modern English, think nettle soup and poached halibut), and there is an interesting wine list, many of which are served by the glass or carafe. One glitch though – the service is slow, so make sure you order starters or you’ll be tipsy before the mains arrive!

Arbutus 63-4 Frith Street, W1D 3JW A stylish, modern newcomer and the star of many dazzling reviews. Lots of interesting wines by the glass and tasty mains in the 15 bracket. Good for a special occasion.

Bar Music Hall 134 Curtain Road, EC2A 3AR, Tel 0207 729 7216 Mainly DJs but nice jazz on Monday nights and a varied selection of continental beers. Foodwise though stick to platters of antipasti (8) as the rest (burgers, steaks) are mediocre.

Le Café du Marche Tel 0207 608 1609 An old-fashioned, romantic favourite of ours, with frequent live music and hearty French food. The food is on a 30 pound 3-course set menu basis though, so not a budget option. Beer is limited to Stella though.

Fig & Olive 151 Upper Street, N1 1RA, Tel 0207 2605 A nice café/bistro type place with a long and varied menu and a tempting display of cakes by the door. Would be nice for casual lunch, and gets a bit more atmospheric (dimly lit) for dinner.

Fifteen 15 Westland Place, N1 7LP, 0871 330 1515, http://www.fifteenrestaurant.com/ The illustrious Jamie wasn’t there, of course, but the staff all sounded as pukka as him, and so did the menu. The food was nice enough, but the bill added up to too much.

Leon 3 Crispin Place, E1 6DW A nice mini-chain of Mediterranean cafes, with menus pasted in to old cartoon annuals. Order a bunch of meze and chuckle away!

1 Lombard Street Brasserie EC3V 9AA, Tel 0207 929 6611 A city brasserie for city business lunches. A nice building and a menu which treads an all-pleasing line between more interesting (salad of quail) to the comforting (bangers and mash).

Malmaison 18-21 Charterhouse St, EC1M 6AH, Tel 0207 012 3700 A hotel restaurant that manages to be cosy and trendy, serves good food (incl good value set menus at 16 for 2 courses) and is a good bet when other places are shut.

The Morgan Arms 43 Morgan St, E3 A very lucky chance discovery deep in residential Bow. The nibble selection (13) was a bit average, especially the bread, but the mains were good – juicy scallops, hearty fish stew. The atmosphere is a nice mix of elegant and casual and there’s a decent selection of beers and ales.

Ubon Canary Wharf A business lunch venue, with set meals around 20 mark.

White Swan Pub & Dining Room 108 Fetter Lane, EC4, Tel 0207 242 9696. http://www.thewhiteswanlondon.com/ Owned by the same people as The Well in Clerkenwell and the Gun in Docklands. A city boys’ bar downstairs and a posh, white-table clothed, mirrored restaurant upstairs. Food is good, but not cheap (16 for mains)

Wolfe’s Bar & Grill, 30 Great Queen St, WC2B 5BB, Tel 0207 831 4442, http://www.wolfes-grill.net/ A surprisingly good place in touristy Covent Garden, with good set price menus for 15.50.

The Bountiful Cow

Ignore the garish neon lights, and duck in to a small, cosy dark bar. The highlight, according to other reviews, is the landlady, a one-time doyenne of Ronnie Scotts and sadly absent during our visit. The young waitresses were perfectly helpful though, escorting us to the more spacious restaurant down some hard to find steps. The dinner came courtesy of toptable.co.uk, paid for with loyalty points accumulated from far too many expensive lunches and dinners over the past 12 months, and consisted of two courses from a very limited menu. My salad came in a huge bowl, piled high with tomatoes, onions and chunks of feta cheese. My companion braved the liver in a bid to overcome an aversion that dates back to horrific school dinner experiences. It turned out all creamy and pate-like, with some rather nice toasted bread. For mains, we both opted for juicy burgers, topped with cheese and served in huge buns with chips and salad on the side. The meat was juicy-pink in the middle, and yummy on the tongue. The generous side orders defeated us, leaving no room for deserts. For a free meal, it certainly got my seal of approval, and was nicely washed down by some drinkable house white (£11.50).

The Bountiful Cow, 51 Eagle St, WC1R 4AP. Tube: Holborn

Smithfield Bar & Grill

Located in the shadows of the market, Smithfield Bar & Grill has no excuse for providing anything but top-notch meat. And it does. From a variety of cuts and weigths -- includind a distinctly unlocal filet of Japanese Kobe beef for an eye-popping £50 -- we opted for an 8oz fillet (£14.50) and a 10oz sirloin (£13.50). Both came in juicy red, accompanied by tangy horseradish mash (£2.50 and almost as good as my home-made version!), classic rocket and parmesan salad (£3.50) and two dinky jugs of peppercorn sauce (£1.50 each). A taste comparison proved that the sirloin has a stronger, meatier flavour whilst the fillet had a nicer, melt-in-the-mouth texture. We washed the steaks down with a passable bottle of French red (£11.50) and tap water, in defiance of the waitress who tried to get us to order the mineral stuff before we'd even had a chance to sit down at the table! The service was friendly, though they did ask if everyhing was OK far too many times. The venue itself is dark and stylish, with cute black leather booths and a bigger, whiter restaurant section round the corner. The point of the place is clearly meat, but there is a good selection of fishy dishes and salads as well. The cocktail menu looked impressive but we sadly got their too late for the until-7pm happy hour. We will definitely be back, but only with one of the 2-for-1 offers which crop up regularly on www.toptable.co.uk and are also available with the www.tastelondon.co.uk card (first visit only). Otherwise all the side orders and sauces do add up, making it a bit overpriced.

Smithfield Bar & Grill, 2-3 West Smithfield, EC1A 9JX, Tel 0870 442 2541; Tube: Barbican

Rasputin

London has lots of Russian restaurants, but it's hard to find a place that is authentic (and not in an incompetent, sullen, inedible Soviet canteen kind of way) and reasonably priced. Of the ones I've tried so far, Rasputin - all the way out West in the Polish heartland of Acton - is probably the best of a mixed bunch. It's a small, cosy, unpretentious sort of place on the main road which was totally empty on our visit early one weekday evening. The charming, gregarious owner, from Montenegro, though made it easy to overlook the empty room. We sampled Russian meat dumplings (pelmeni), thei larger Polish cousins with curd cheese (pierogi), pancakes (bliny) with smoked salmon -- all served with lashings of propper smetana (a bit like sour cream). Mains included a chicken kebab and a tomatoey take on beef stroganoff which, some of our party thought was an improvement on the original. All came with piles of veg and potatoes and were washed down with a selection of Eastern European largers and accompanied by cheery Russian pop music on the stereo. We were far too full to contemplate deserts, much to our hostess's disappointment. It came to a fairly reasonable £65 for three, including a free platter of crunchy pickled vegetables as an appetiser. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area - and if you do, be sure to get in to a chat with the owner.

Rasputin, 265 High Street, W3 9BY. Tube: Acton Town (about 10 mins' walk)

Sacre Coeur

I am back!!! That's not to say I haven't been pigging out all over London for the last few months, I've just been too busy pigging out to write aout it! Last night we braved a little French restaurant off Upper Street. I say braved because it came with a very damning condemnation from a fellow pigger, which kept us away for some time. But feeling adventurous (and cold) we caved in. The place was cosy, with twinkling lights and chairs glued to walls covered in music posters. We were offered tap water (bonus points from the off), and ordered a nice bottle of Crozes Hermitage to go with it (£20) from a shortish but quite interesting and reasonably priced wine list. The food arrived quickly - buttery, garlicy snails for me and a creamy celeriac and mushroom soup from the specials board for my companion (about £4-5 each). I liberally dipped in to both with my bread! (Be careful how muc you dip though: we were charged £1.60 for two bread rolls.) The mains of duck with mash and guinea fowl with saute potatoes (about £11 each) were both tender and delicious, though the latter inexplicably came with a handfull of glace cherries. The atmosphere in the place was very convivial, and complete with authentic French waiters. The main menu also features cheaper options such as crepes (£7ish) and interesting sounding sausages with things like duck and wild board (£8-9). Conclusion: we are going back, pleased at having discovered a cosy corner of France just off Upper Street.

Sacre Coeur, 18 Theberton Street, N1. Tube: Angel

Han of Nazz

UPDATED (MARCH 2007): SADLY THIS PLACE NOW SEEMS TO HAVE SHUT. :-(

This is a fantastic new kebab/Turkish place in Shoreditch. Inside, much more attention has been paid to the decor than in the Dalston kebaberies that lie further out along Kingsland Road. They've gone for a Turkish boudoir type look, with lots of colours, drapes, cushions and curtains. We were a large group, and the place is great for groups although the rules are that everyone must have the huge-sounding £17.50 set menu. We managed to persuade them to let us and our bellies off and instead started with a few mixed hot and cold mezze (£8). The cold ones were the usual selection of things like humours and tzatziki, served with plenty of dunkable bread. The hot were nicer, including grilled haloumi cheese and freshly, lightly battered squid rings. For mains, I went for the h0use speciality, the Iskender. It was a selection of juicy, good-quality meat, including lamb and chicken, piled high on fingers of pitta bread and coated in delicious yoghurty sauce. The mixed grill looked pretty good too. And for the more adventurous (or those less keen on kebabs) there is also a wide selection of other dishes including duck and sea food, with most mains around the £10 mark. For most appetites, a main would be very filling, possibly leaving just enough room for one starter/mezze dish. We washed it all down with Effes beer. The waiters were in a good, cheerful mood, which helped make it a great night. Personally, I'd pick this place over the Dalston ones any day.

Iskander, 4 Calvert Avenue, E2 7JP; Tel 020 7033 3936; Tube Old Street; http://www.hanofnazz.com/