Restaurants

Blue Legume is best known for its sterling brunches, making it a mecca for locals at the weekend. Hungover twenty-somethings dawdle over sticky, maple syrup-drizzled waffles with fruit and yoghurt, eggs benedict or mushrooms on toast with crème fraîche, while families pile into the conservatory area out back; on sunny days, the strip of pavement tables on the street is prime people-watching terrain. In the evening, it morphs from a sunny café into a low-key neighbourhood bistro, with candles flickering on the mosaic tables,jazz playing in the background and an ambitiously extensive menu, encompassing everything from seafood tagliatelle and tapas to moussaka and home-made burgers. Amiable waiters deliver giant plates of food: we barely made a dent in a heaped dish of spicy, saffron-infused paella, while a rack of lamb (slightly fatty but perfectly pink) was accompanied by a mountain of fluffy mashed potato and plump mushrooms covered in Madeira sauce. Desserts, while equally enormous, were disappointing: a baked cheesecake was too bland, and a banofee pie unexceptional.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009