Randomness Guide to London Menu

A restaurant near on the corner of King's Cross Road, not far from King's Cross St Pancras Station, which prides itself in sourcing its ingredients within the M25 as far as is possible.

Inside the old pub has been gutted and replaced by an odd decor arrangement involving curtains of metallic beads swathed everywhere, including in front of the windows. This has the effect of making it difficult to see inside (though seeing out is fine). When combined with lack of signage indicating the restaurant name (presumably the original tiling is listed), this can make the place seem a little imposing from outside.

Staff, however, are perfectly friendly, and on a Friday lunchtime there weren't many other diners.

The menu is updated daily, and, apart from the ingredient-sourcing policy mentioned above, focuses on using plenty of herbs and seasoning (there are plentiful mentions of chervil, chard, sorrel, sage, lavender, et al., on our menu). The lunch menu is divided into mains and desserts, with smaller dishes (around £6) nearer the top, and a couple of vegetarian options. There's also a cocktail aperitif offered ("rosehip kir petillant made with Chapel Down Special Reserve Brut" for £7.50).

On a September 2008 visit, a basket of bread was set down after the mains had been ordered. A jug of tap water was also happily supplied. Ewan's squash, Spenwood and spring onion pirogi with chervil and sour cream (£11.50) was an excellent dish, with the pirogi (dumplings) avoiding any kind of stodginess. As a base for the pirogi, the delicately-flavoured chervil worked well with what tasted like fennel, and was in all very satisfying. My companion's pan-fried Mersea sole with chard and bacon spaetzle, green beans and nasturtium butter (£16.50) was also praised, the butter especially.

The cheese on the cheeseboard again was locally-sourced (Spenwood, Waterloo and Wigmore cheeses, £7.50), while Ewan's Konstam castle cake with vanilla icecream and strawberry jam (£6) was a simple dish, contrasting the bold, traditional flavours of the icecream and jam nicely with the toasted slices of cake.

Kat visited in mid-October 2008, on a reasonably busy Wednesday evening. We took advantage of the interesting local beer selection, which included a number of Greenwich Meantime ales. The starter of roasted hare with beetroot worked very well, although the portion was rather too large. The main course of chicken was accompanied with spätzle (fried dough noodles) - both were rich-tasting and extremely filling, thankfully the waiter had advised us that extra side dishes probably weren't going to be necessary. Choosing a light dessert (a delicious selection of sorbets served with a rather potent vodka) seemed wise. The service became a little slow after we had ordered our food, but the friendly waiting staff did apologise for this and 'failed to charge' us for our last round of drinks (the total came to £84 for two people). We also felt the low lighting worked very well with the hanging beads to give a cosy atmosphere.

Ewan's verdict: The use of ingredients is interesting and inventive. I would happily return.

See also:

• London Eating comments
• Time Out review
• World Foodie Guide review
• Around Britain With A Paunch review
• Eat Like A Girl review of the lunch menu
• Chowhound thread