They’ve just opened and had a lot of press, but before you call me a foodie fashion victim, they’re also on the 43 bus route, and so am I. The shop front is a work of art in itself, with a gorgeous display of home made breads, cakes and salads on sale to take away.

In the restaurant there are just two large white melamine tables, round which everyone sits. And everyone gets the same starter, they bring it regardless unless you ask them not to. As it happens, it’s brilliant: three different kinds of home made bread, on a board with olive oil; a shot glass each of aubergine puree, a generous portion of green lentil salad and a small herb and roasted pine nut salad. One of the breads had small, sour plums in it – much better than it sounds. My Seven Hour Cooked Lamb with root vegetables was a big joint of meat, perfectly cooked and falling off the bone, with sweet potato, a roast onion, parsnips, spud and carrot - a massive plateful which I couldn’t finish, while L’s Prawns and Scallops in a Thai sauce didn’t look much but he had to struggle to finish it. The waiter (a young woman, but we don’t say actress or manageress any more, do we, so I’ve made a policy decision to drop “waitress”) was quite happy to fix me a doggy bag, she just put it in a carton from the deli counter in the front. Which left me a bit of space for pud. The chocolate brownie with crème fraiche ice cream was more than enough for two, which is just as well cos I had to fight for every spoonful. “It’s not often I think a dessert is worth six quid” he said, by way of excuse. (There’s this squid, shivering on the Ocean Bed. “What’s the matterwith you ?” asks a passing shark “I’ve got a headache and a runny nose and I feel awful” said the squid. “Don’t you worry, little squid, just jump on my back and I’ll take you home”, said the kindly shark, but instead of taking him home, he swam up to the Great Barracuda and said “Here’s that sick squid I owe you”)

There are a couple of drawbacks to Ottolenghi: the total lack of soft furnishings makes it quite noisy, and as you’re sharing a table with 18 others, this is not the place for a confidential or romantic evening. It gets crowded, too, they are doing a roaring trade and you may need to book. It’s also quite expensive: our bill for dinner for two came to £54 once we’d added on service. What you go there for is the food, which is gourmet stuff, everything freshly made on the premises and as good as anything in London. We dropped by for tea this afternoon (just happened to be passing, OK?) I had a vast, home made meringue, L had a chocolate fondant cake, which had that special fruity taste you only get with really good chocolate. DM Recommended September 2004