Sophie's Steakhouse & Bar

The Sophie in question is Sophie Mogford, who cut her teeth at Smollensky's and the Conran Group before joining forces with Rupert Power and setting up Sophie's seven years ago. The duo's time with their previous employers is much in evidence at the original branch in Chelsea (still open): a polite, faintly provincial and entirely professional British take on a New York steakhouse. However, their Conran-inspired showiness is really to the fore at this enormous Covent Garden offshoot, which takes the original's mock-warehouse motifs (exposed pipes, brick walls, high ceilings) and amplifies them for a brasher central London crowd. Given the new location, the food is about as good as it needs to be. The fairly priced menu is careful not to ruffle any feathers. From the list of uncomplicated and over-familiar starters (so-so calamares, tired caesar salad, dull chicken liver pâté) to the string of tried-and-tested desserts (cheesecake, brownies, lemon meringue pie), surprises are conspicuous by their absence. So too is inspiration. The steaks are fine, as they should be, and the service is unfailingly impressive, but little else will linger long in the memory.