Randomness Guide to London Menu

A stylish gastropub in trendy Marylebone.

The pub may have returned to its long-neglected original name, but it's scarcely likely to approximate the original Victorian ambience. The ground-floor bar space is open, bright and airy, with plenty of light coming through the windows. The more recherché decor extravagances of its former shortly-lived incarnation have gone, but it retains the bare wood floors and now has chunky wooden tables with matching seats, three smaller and three larger ones, as well as a couple of couches by an ornamental fireplace.

There's more room upstairs for dining, with plenty of tables and again lots of light streaming in from the open windows. A small bar serves the upstairs with a couple of handpulls, but at less busy times this isn't manned. Outside a small area for smokers is roped off.

The bar downstairs impresses by its newly-installed range of ales, a pleasing development. There are now four handpulls, dispensing Deuchars IPA (the regular, one presumes), as well as Theakston's Black Bull Bitter, Brakspear's Hooray Henley (£1.80/half), and Marston's Lord's Tavener's Ale (cricket-themed for the summer). There are also three casks arrayed alongside the bar dispensing two of these plus Jenning's Honey Bole. Lager drinks are well served by a couple of basics, plus Birra Moretti, Edelweiss, and Marston's Oyster Stout, and for cider there's Bulmers on draught. They've also got a decent wine list, as you might expect for the area.

The food menu is prominently displayed on a chalkboard inside, as well as on all the tables and in a frame outside, and is very nicely constructed. For vegetarians, there's some really quite decent options and no reliance on familiar risottos or the like. A seasonal asparagus salad comes with oyster mushrooms and artichokes, resting on a bed of peppery fresh roquette leaves, and a small poached egg with hollandaise on the side (£7 as starter, £11 for a main) photo. It all works together nicely, top-quality ingredients justifying the priciness somewhat, and is served with a side of crusty white bread with olive oil and balsamic photo.

Presentation in general is one of the pub's strong points, as a fellow diner gets a pot of tea served on a tray with a delicate china cup, and Ewan's condiments are arranged neatly on a wooden board.

Service is friendly, still settling in perhaps, as the pub has been open only a couple of months. The downstairs gets a few other diners on a Tuesday lunchtime in June 2009, but there's still plenty of space, and even more upstairs, with no unnecessary crowding of tables.

There appears to still be a cocktail bar downstairs, as there was in its previous guise, which may be open in the evenings.

Accessibility: A shallow step to get in, and toilets are located down some narrow stairs.

See also:

• Fancyapint review
• Time Out review