Blueprint Café

The Blueprint Café feels like a treat: the airy, white-walled dining room has floor-to-ceiling glass windows looking on to one of the finest river views in London (so the opera glasses on the linen-covered tables must be to peer at your fellow diners). Service was friendly and helpful, and the food from the kitchen can be very good indeed.

The set dinner is a bargain. (On our visit chef Jeremy Lee was still there but he has since moved on, in December 2011.) A starter of fresh sardines and egg on toast was scrumptious, just pipping the other starter, beetroot salad. Both mains were excellent: perfectly seared onglet (justly known as the 'butcher's choice') and superb preserved duck confit, although the former didn't benefit much from its accompanying pickled walnut. Vegetables were pod-fresh and well flavoured (the addition of fresh mint was a nice touch). For afters, there's the likes of lemon posset, almond cake with caramelised apples or British cheeses.

If you don't drink too much - perhaps, an aperitif of a kir or mir (the blackberry version) - you'll be surprised at how little you've spent. Then again, as this is a perfect spot for a celebration, perhaps not.