Good local eats
Fancy a night out but don't want to go into town? Try one of these local restaurants for good, non-fussy meals that are just what the doctor ordered.
L'AUBERGE, 22 Upper Richmond Road, SW15 (020 8874 3593) £30. The little French bistro of our fantasies (or sitcoms). A young chef, Pascal Ardilly, cooking his heart out in the kitchen; his female partner working the floor; a good value, set-price menu just like in France; and an a la carte tempting enough to make you stray. Ardilly excels as a pâštissier.
KANDOO, 458 Edgware Road, W2 (020 7724 2428) £17 BYO. It is unlikely you have a kandoo - a beehive-shaped clay bread oven - at home, so grab a bottle of wine from under the stairs or the nearest off-licence to accompany some truly first-rate grilled meats. But start with the sesameseed studded hot bread and paneer-sabzi, an array of cruditès, herbs and white cheese. You'll never eat in again.
MASALA ZONE, 80 Upper Street, N1 (020 7359 3399) £22. Indian food is such a fag to prepare and the supermarket stuff after a while tends all to taste the same. Let the trained take the strain and relax with Bombay street food, Gujerati vegetarian snacks, traditional curries and wellbalanced, diet-conscious thalis - a meal on a tray. Staff are unusually cheerful and helpful.
ARANCIA, 52 Southwark Park Road, SE16 (020 7394 1751) £24. There are ups and downs reported in the quality of the Italian cooking here, but its price is such a bargain that forgiveness is in order. Anyway, don't you occasionally falter when making, say, stufato di agnello? I have always been impressed by the verve and seasonality of the food and the jollity of the atmosphere.
THE GREEN, 110 Walm Lane, NW2 (020 8452 0171) £34. Here is a sign of the times. Not a pub conversion but a Conservative Club conversion into neighbourhood restaurant, attracting the sort of crowd who probably think IDS is a new way of text-messaging. Chef Patrick Williams turns out some well-rounded assemblies like bruschetta of mushrooms and confit of duck with parsnip purèe and smoked bacon jus.
THE CHISWICK, 131-133 Chiswick High Road, W4 (020 8994 6887) £34. Adam and Kate Robinson, who have done so much - most obviously when at The Brackenbury in Hammersmith - to make the meal on your doorstep a two-fingered gesture towards congestion charging, are the guiding lights behind this ideal neighbourhood restaurant. The menu never rests. Something seasonal this way comes and the chef responds.
Note: prices above indicate the cost of a meal with wine for one.
