Restaurants

By Elena Berton

If The Ivory were to be rated for its location alone it would comfortably get five stars. Rather than a restaurant, it feels like a conservatory overlooking St Katharine Docks, with elegantly mismatched tables and chairs lending the place a shabby-chic atmosphere.

Despite the marine surroundings, there's little seafood on the menu, which is skewed towards meat eaters with a taste for the exotic. The highlight of our meal was the crocodile stew, simply because when we enquired about its provenance, the waitress's deadpan response was, 'All our meat comes from Scotland.'

'From South Africa, or the Amazon,' chipped in another, before the kitchen came to the rescue with 'Australia' - one of the biggest suppliers of farmed crocodile meat, which tastes rather like chicken, only juicier and more succulent if you have one of the prime cuts such as tail.

The 'stew' turned out to be a sizable stack of pan-fried fillets with wild rice, topped with grilled mango slices and basil. However, at £19, it should perhaps have included a complimentary crocodile handbag. The tartare of Aberdeen Angus steak (this time, it really was from Scotland) was so moreish it could tempt a vegetarian but, again, the £18.95 price tag was steep given that it was the size of an ordinary hamburger.

The St Katharine Docks yacht owners may not balk at paying haute cuisine prices for average food and gauche service, but The Ivory is unlikely to prove popular with anyone else while the final bill takes such a big bite out of one's wallet.

Time Out London issue 1866: May 24-31 2006