Our Inspector's View

The determinedly monochrome basement room of Michael O'Hare's contemporary restaurant is in stark contrast to the culinary approach. While black marble tables and floor tiles offset the grey-veined walls, which are lightened with vertical displays of skateboards, marble surfboards and scrawls of incoherent graffiti, the black-shaded lamps illuminate plates – and many another receptacle – of cutting-edge experimental food that manages to avoid a lot of what have become the modern clichés. The standard offering is a taster of 10 to 14 'sequences', with a digested version at lunchtime, built around a repertoire of dazzlingly imaginative dishes. A single octopus tentacle in butter emulsion has a strong hit of paprika, while a pâté of perfect crab is balanced on a crisp cracker and topped with a quail egg. Coarsely sliced, eloquently fatted Wagyu beef in olive juice with a sheet of potato paper is extraordinary in its impact, and the delicacy of judgment extends to a hake dumpling covered in hair-fine filaments of chilli for discreet heat. A dish that proved controversial on the BBC Great British Menu, O'Hare's fish and chips, is a model of concentrated refinement, expressively flavoured cod in miso broth with salt-and-vinegar straw potatoes, while a new spin on Rossini made with ox cheek is full of savoury, sticky richness. Creativity is unflagging to the end, which might feature milk chocolate mousse with honey and violet ice cream, cardamom and lemongrass soup with chilli sorbet, or potato puffs sprinkled with beetroot powder. It's all served forth to a soundtrack of throbbing rock.

Awards, Accolades & welcome Schemes

4 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence