Brompton Quarter Café

You could be in New York or Sydney - the high-ceilinged, light-filled room that is Brompton Quarter Café is more often than not swarming with a chichi Knightsbridge crowd, relishing the fresh cocktails (margaritas, mojitos, strawberry juleps) and vibrant Mediterranean salads and nibbles. One side of the room is flanked by a large blackboard, artistically painted with exotic flowers, displaying the specials of the day: sumac-marinated steak with grilled artichokes, say. A sharing menu features small bowls of Mediterranean-style salads, such as moutabal with sesame oil and lemon juice, or tabouleh with parsley, tomato and bulgar wheat. Our 'Tunisian' salad with roasted chunks of aubergine, coriander and chilli lacked much zing, while a 'spicy' vegetable and chickpea soup was curiously bland. Better was a meaty slab of juicy grilled swordfish served with a summery tomato and basil bruschetta and thin spears of asparagus (which were quickly added by our solicitous yet forgetful waiter, after we'd noticed their absence). Chips were golden and fat, but were served with a selection of uninteresting condiments (bog-standard ketchup, for example). You get the feeling here that you're paying over the odds for poshed-up café fare - but this is Knightsbridge, after all.