Texture

The recent rise of modern Scandinavian cooking has had gastronomes drooling, and while Icelandic chef Agnar Sverrisson's kitchen doesn't display its northern influences as brazenly as some, the dishes here include many nods to his homeland. The ethos is evident in the cooking, which overlooks the butter and cream traditional to French cuisine in favour of light, pure flavours. From the minute the amuse arrives - new-season peas with hazelnuts and mint 'snow', say - it's clear you're embarking on a special culinary experience.

A starter of Atlantic prawns came with pea mousse and delicate shards of rye bread; Icelandic lamb and cod also feature regularly across the menu. The star of a delightful meal was a square of English pork belly, plated with a puffy crisp of crackling, gooseberries, samphire, pak choi and peach purée. Desserts are similarly thrilling; we relished a 'soup' of passionfruit, lemongrass and ginger with basil sorbet and pineapple. The inventiveness is amped up in two tasting menus.

Clockwork service was pleasantly informal, and the luminous, airy room is suitably Nordic too: the ornately corniced Georgian townhouse displaying sculptural branches and mossy plants. One of the most exciting places to eat in London.