Reviews

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2010

This large, white gallery space-cum-restaurant is perfectly suited to lunchtime dining (it's open for dinner on Fridays only), when the natural light coming through the windows shows it to best advantage. There's a nice atmosphere too, with pleasant staff and low-key background chatter.

The kitchen is mostly reliable, with only a dry beef burger disappointing on this visit. Own-made, and served with chorizo, cheese and gherkin, it tasted fine, but failed to meld into a delicious whole. A well-dressed leaf salad helped, as did slightly oily chunky chips. A further annoyance was that it was served on a narrow wooden board, so bits kept falling off.

However, everything else passed muster: an excellent and beautifully presented starter of smoked salmon with crab wrapped in pickled carrot, followed by well-flavoured roast cod with sticky rice and pak choi. Veg of the day, runner beans and peas, were fresh and buttery. Gin and tonic sorbet made a bracing dessert, but couldn't compete with a glorious chocolate fondant with macerated cherries and salted caramel ice-cream.

An unthreatening wine list has options by the glass, carafe and bottle. Note that on Thursdays, the menu is supplemented with a choice of steaks.

The Good Food Guide 2010

"More of less around the corner from London Bridge station, Delfina is a converted chocolate factory, a big open, daylight filled venue with an expansive exhibition space at the back. Mainly a lunch venue (plus Friday nights), it has always offered up-to-the-minute fusion cooking that is built of quality ingredients and influences drawn from all around the Mediterranean and beyond.

Chilli crusted Coley with a sweet potato blini, pak choi and confit tomatoes may be hard to place culturally, but it packs a punch of flavour whatever, while a lentil curry full of cumin and coriander might be garnished with halloumi. Prior to that, you might have started with a char-grilled quail with courgette and a fig and chestnut pannacotta.

Meals end aromatically with pistachio macaroons, served with lavender cream and rosewater syrup. A short international wine list starts at £18.60"

Square Meal

'Inventive food, beautifully presented', is the general impression left by a visit to this chic retreat a short walk from London Bridge station. Housed in an old factory, the restaurant feels like a gallery - an open, airy space whose whitewashed walls are dotted with modern art (from regularly changing exhibitions). Stop by for an Ayrshire bacon & tomato ciabatta roll for breakfast, a 'sharing slate' of charcuterie or fish for lunch, or try dinner on a Friday - perhaps smoked mackerel with apple & celeriac rémoulade followed by guinea fowl, beetroot & cranberry risotto, with pear & ginger tart with honeycomb ice cream to finish. Prices are less than you'd expect for such polish, & the imaginative wine list won't put you out of pocket either. Professional & friendly service adds the finishing touch: 'We left with a contented smile on our faces,' reports one happy soul.