Restaurants

By Guy Dimond

There's something gracious and reassuring about Mayfair pubs. Freed from the constraints of having to screen satellite sport and stage all-night happy hours, the best of them them still retain an old-world charm. The Only Running Footman is one such pub par excellence, and already looks as if it's been there forever, and in a way it has - but it's just reopened after a huge refurb. The ground floor still looks like a proper pub, with jolly chaps propping up the mahogany bar, three decent ales on draught and an extensive menu of enticing bar food: burger, ploughman's and chips are joined by oysters, potted shrimp and Eton mess.

On the first floor there's a quieter, more formal dining room. The people behind the excellent House in Canonbury and the Bull in Highgate have consciously created a mostly British menu, only perhaps leaning too much towards the more conservative sort of diner. Mixed grills, roast chicken and leek and potato soup are all well and good, but this being Mayfair, you will also pay dearly for it. My fillet of Welsh beef was a fine piece of meat, though, as you'd hope at £19.50. The most exciting-sounding dish on the menu, half a native lobster and clam spaghettini with slow-roast tomatoes, was a startling £23. A fish soup served with croutons and rouille was perhaps the best dish we tried, at £10. Puddings included Bakewell tart with ice cream, cheese plates, and Valrhona chocolate pudding (£5.50-£6).

You don't have to pay the dining room's premium prices; the downstairs bar is a bit noisier but still suitable for a tête-à-tête, and you can order anything from a bacon buttie takeaway (£2.95) to Welsh rarebit with watercress (£6.50). A full English breakfast is served in the mornings for only £7.50; a third of the price you'd pay in nearby Claridge's. The wine selection is a delight with more than a dozen wines by the glass at around the £5-£8 mark. Later this autumn, a tiny cookery school is planned on the third floor; check the website soon for details.

Time Out Issue 1936: September 26-October 2 2007