Restaurants

The cooking seems to be getting less reliable, but Patio retains a quirky charm. With its £15.99 four-course set menu (including complimentary vodka, pre-dessert fruit and cake), we’re inclined to give the place the benefit of the doubt. A meal here reminds us of visiting an elderly Polish aunt’s, complete with home cooking, a faded, fin-de-siècle air, piano and velvet drapes. Service this time was complicated by a sweet but uncomprehending and incomprehensible Chinese waitress, who brought very different dishes to the ones we’d ordered. Starters are traditional: potato pancakes, herrings, bigos, barszcz and smoked-salmon blini (a whopping torpedo-shaped affair). Cod in a cloying dill sauce and plain polish sausage à la zamoyski (grilled with onions, mustard and horseradish) were nothing to write home about, and the accompanying vegetables (roast potatoes, green cabbage and carrots) were slightly tired. Our cheesecake was lighter than usual (not typically Polish), but sweet cheese pancakes hit the spot. We’ve heard gripes about mysterious extras occasionally appearing on the bill, but that could well be due to the confused service. Patio is good value, but there’s room for improvement.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009