BINCHO, 16 Old Compton Street, Soho, London W1D 4TL

Style and substance are both evident in abundance at the tucked away Japanese fare that is Bincho. The former,  it has to be said, is rarely lacking in restaurants from this part of the world. From the chefs tending to various delectable titbits on an open grill to the accompanying minimal house, this is has all clearly been carefully thought out.

The dining areas are simplistic - wooden tables with dim lighting - but the sense of cool remains, helped along by tunes that would be equally at home in a roof top terrace in Miami.

And so to the food.

First, the negatives; the menu prices are deceptive, seemingly incredibly cheap until you notice the small print which demands a minimum order of two for any dish. Why not simply have dishes comprising two portions and have a menu that thereby reflects the true price of the food. The portions themselves are a little dainty; skewers of various meats and vegetables are Bincho's speciality and one would want them a little more substantial.

That said, the real reason for our continual ordering of new dishes was the quality of the food. Sublime skewers of eel are accompanied by more conventional delicacies like pork belly and minced chicken meatballs. A particular highlight was the asparagus and pancetta combination, albeit again the size meant the skewers arrived and were consumed in the blink of an eye. Along with the smaller dishes come other delights such as spinach, parmesan and pancetta salad and salmon and squid sashimi salad. There is little on the menu that does not catch the eye and the small dishes are an advantage in the way they encourage diners to sample the maximum variety. This truly was  terrific food and very reasonable for a midweek dinner in central London.

The service was a little patchy; at one point after a waitress had placed a skewer into a wooden cup a member of the party had used for sake consumption, the manager emerged to tell us that this was the function of said cup and that replacing the sake was "expensive". He did reluctantly replace the drink, but the episode did not fill us with confidence should we have had a real complaint to make. Otherwise, the waiters and waitresses were pleasant and keen to discuss the various dishes and their merits. The food arrived consistently, clearly being brought out as it was cooked and this made for an extremely enjoyable and drawn out evening.

Ratings

Ambience: 8
Decor: 8
Flavours: 9
Presentation: 8
Service: 6

Total: 39

Price: £20-£40 per head depending on how greedy you are with skewers and sake.
http://www.bincho.co.uk/about-bincho-soho

GALVIN AT WINDOWS, London Hilton on Park Lane Hotel, 22 Park Lane, W1K 1BE

You cannot overemphasise the spectacular views that greet diners at Chris Galvin's restaurant in the Park Lane Hilton. The panorama of the London skyline is as good as any I have experienced and it was hard not to spend most of the time marvelling at the view rather than focusing on the food. The chef could have served up beans on toast and this would still have been a worthwhile experience. For this reason, a window table is essential and can be all but ensured by request upon booking.

In spite of this, the food on this occasion was somewhat hit and miss. The Michelin Star label is one that I have previously (rather naively) thought of as a guarantee of flawless food. For example, miniscule portions, such as the main course of two tiny morsels of pork cheek served with a single segment of purple potato, are fine if the food is of sensational quality. But in this case, the meat was more gelatinous than wholsome and the purple potato was so small that even eating it in one mouthful might not have provided any further insight as to its flavour. Although lunch for under £30 in such a stylish and picturesque restaurant is always going to be good value, I did feel that I deserved a little more for my money.

Another problem that gourmet restaurants tend to experience is overelaboration. I am not someone who refuses to be wowed when innovative combinations come together to create a glorious result. But at the same time one does sometimes wish that creativity is not replaced by overindulgence. The slow cooked hen egg that was immersed in the chick pea and chorizo veloute (delicious in its own right) left me on the fence. Each mouthful seemed to create greater uncertainty until I wished (I think) that the chef had left his egg uncracked.

One course that certainly was not worthy of any of the criticisms above was the pave of chocolate dessert, served with pistachio ice cream. Here Galvin really struck gold, serving a dish a cut above your average Pizza Express chocolate pudding and creating the perfect accompaniment to a lazy afternoon staring out over the city.

Ratings
Ambience: 8
Decor: 8
Flavours: 6.5
Presentation: 7
Service: 8

Total: 37.5

Price: Lunch - 2 courses for £25, 3 courses for £29 (an excellent Chilean Sauvignon Blanc can be purchased for a further £18 - a bargain in a restaurant of this kind).
Website: http://www.galvinatwindows.com/index.php

PIED A TERRE, 34 Charlotte Street, London, W1T 2NH

Bloomsbury's Pied a Terre had been described to us in such superlative terms that we arrived for our weekday lunch full to the brim of expectation. The restaurant is beautifully intimate and we were particularly fond of the exotic floral motif that ran throughout the venue, from the imagery on the glass plates to the faux-flowers in the various vases. The atmosphere was formal without being uptight in the way that burdens many top restaurants. From our arrival service was charming and extremely efficient; one of the waitresses even recognised my girlfriend from a previous visit. The sole exception was the curt and patronising manner of the maitre d', who appeared to look down on us as young professionals dining out on the set menu option.

We both began with a terrine of pig's head and foie gras, served with pickled root vegetables, golden raisins, cider glaze and juniper salt. The dish was beautifully presented, as expected in a restaurant that has earned 2 Michelin Stars. But the food did not quite match the presentation. The pig's head and foie gras were merged together into a single strip of terrine which detracted from the undeniably fantastic flavour of the latter. And the supplemental ingredients seemed to represent little more than an ornamental decoration. If anything, they tended to overwhelm the taste of the terrine itself. Presentation aside, this was more the stuff of a decent country pub than one of the capital’s best restaurants.

Thankfully, the two mains redeemed things in a big way. I chose the poached fillet of plaice, baked sweet potato, truffle butter, purple sprouting broccoli and lemon buddha emulsion. The fish was cooked to perfection and the emulsion and truffle butter merely added to the already delicious flavours. This truly was a supreme dish and the perfect size for a working lunch.

The alternative was equally delicious; a tender roasted veal belly accompanied by a pomme purée which offset the meat perfectly. The veal itself was full of flavour and exceptionally cooked. There was really nothing to fault and the standard was certainly equal to the plaice if not even higher.

Yearning for a storming sweet finish, we were excited by the prospect of the lime pannacotta, blood orange jelly, lemon balm ice cream and lime foam. After the delightful blend of flavours in the two mains, this colourful combination was expected to be exactly the kind of unorthodox dessert that we were looking for. Ultimately though it was impossible to escape the feeling that this was a mishmash of ingredients that was more contrived than expertly thought out. Each aspect of the dish was interesting in its own right, but together they clashed more than complemented each other.

After coffee and the usual collection of exciting petits fours, we departed with a slight sense of reservation. Here was a restaurant where the quality of cooking and potential for top of the range dishes was undoubted. In that respect it can only be highly recommended. But the inconsistency of the meal told us there was still work to do to reach the level that had led a friend to describe the dinner menu as the most exquisite gastronomic experience that he had ever had. More specifically it made us wonder whether the attention to detail in the lunch menu was the same as in the more extensive (and lucrative!) tasting menu.

Ratings*

Ambience: 8
Décor: 8
Flavours: 7
Presentation: 9
Service: 8

Total: 40

*(Out of 10)

Price: Lunch - 2 courses for £23.50, 3 courses for £29.50
Website: http://www.pied-a-terre.co.uk/