Nara

Business-people of limited height will love the manly, no-nonsense interior of this long-standing Korean/Japanese restaurant: the black and dark wood furnishings are broken by one lone silk painting that does its best to lighten the austere decor. Taller folk will curse the tabletop grill base against which their knees will keep cracking.

The mixed clientele, including several Korean diners, happily tucked into well-presented, generous portions of staples such as hotpots and kimchi, samgyeopsal (pork belly) and bulgogi - or making use of those cursed barbecue grills.

Stir-fried squid in a sweet chilli sauce was succulent and not too sugary, its flavours dense and complex. However, tolsot bibimbap came with partially cooked beef and a fried egg, when we'd been expecting both key ingredients to be raw in a dish that's really not so hard to get right.

The great-value lunch menu, which also includes miso soup, came with a mixed bag of side dishes: enjoyably fresh pickles and less enjoyable seaweed jelly. On the whole, though, Nara is an ideal place to come if you want something fairly upmarket, without the accompanying price tag. Just don't forget your kneepads.