Sketch: Lecture Room & Library

Of the three main restaurants in the universally expensive Sketch, the Lecture Room & Library offers the best value. The 'gourmet rapide' lunch, at £30 for two courses including coffee, costs less than it did when the place opened in 2002. That's not to say anything here is remotely cheap - à la carte starters average £35, mains £40. But every dish is a fantastically complex yet unified assembly of ingredients, all presented with chef-patron Pierre Gagnaire's trademark attention to detail and subtlety.

A starter on the set lunch might include four separate plates: strawberry and tomato soup; grilled sardine with Thai spices and raspberry and sorrel purée; soft-boiled eggs à la bordelaise with grilled leeks; and foie gras with pickled cherries and chocolate. Mains are equally elaborate and just as perfectly executed: 'pig' comes as cocotte of chop with sage; black pudding with aged rum; chard gratin with Ibérico ham; crunchy ear with kimchi and black radish.

Service was immaculately mannered, and the room itself still has the power to wow. The handsomely proportioned Georgian space has been sexed up and given a colourful Maghrebi twist, creating something far removed from the usual beige blah of high-end restaurants.