Restaurants

Still fresh as just-dried paint after 25 years, RSJs first-floor dining room on the corner of a Waterloo street is plain but attractive and smart. Its reputation rests principally on its cellar of Loire wines; as well as an evenings worth of enjoyable reading between hard covers, theres a regularly changing list of a dozen wines by the glass for entry-level oenophiles. The concise menu is broadly French, but owes much of its zesty appeal to English ingredients. Fish and vegetable dishes suit the Saumurs, but the Loires light reds are also well served by deftly cooked meat. Soft pillows of home-made gnocchi with a fragrant flotilla of young broad beans, peas, mussels, pea shoots and marjoram floating on a deeply delicious shellfish bisque was a flying start to a set dinner. They kept it up with a fine fillet of organically farmed salmon cooked to retain some firmness, with caramelised endive, a zingy herb sauce and baby beets. Dont miss as an excuse for a pudding wine or not the often fruit-based desserts, such as an exceptional chocolate and raspberry roulade. Were confident the neighbouring French diners were as impressed as we were.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008