Food-with-a-conscience is at the heart of this wholesome new diner-concept, now housed in a large basement, down the hill from St Paul’s. It is ‘new’ in the sense that the popular first branch, in the West End, was apparently deemed too small to display the backers’ vision properly. We still can’t work out, though, whether – here or at the original branch – the concept really works or not.
Plus points include: an unusual range of well-sourced food that’s fresh and sometimes interesting; staff who seem to have borrowed Pret A Manger’s happy pills; and a greater level of style than you can generally expect for a lunch that will probably cost less than a tenner.
The biggest negative is the inherently chaotic, fast-food counter-service of such a wide range of dishes and drinks. It just about works while everyone’s trying their hardest, but on a bad day’? (At night, in contrast, ”relaxed’ table service’ is offered.) And – call us old-fashioned – we don’t like having our salad served in a greasy cardboard box, with plastic knives and forks.
What really makes the place a critical nightmare is that many of its features teeter between being brilliant and inspired, and contrived and irritating. These include both the look of the room – like Central Perk (Ã la Friends) gone garage – and of the menu. The latter apes a student newspaper, complete with matey tone – ‘Big kiss to you all this autumn’ – and its look has a spurious informality that must have cost thousands to achieve. And is the name Spanish? And why are in-house posters done as if in Barcelona, circa 1935? And so on.
So, is it the next big thing? The backers are about to test their offering on Knightsbridge and Strand, so we won’t have to wait too long to find out.
