Kitchen W8

Sitting pretty on a quiet street in an affluent neighbourhood, Kitchen is a joint venture between chef Philip Howard (The Square) and restaurateur Rebecca Mascarenhas (Sonny's). Dining takes place in a spacious, dimly lit room with a low ceiling, coffee coloured walls and olive green furnishings. Service was low-key, efficient and polite.

The playful dishes initially introduced on the menu have been replaced by mainstream interpretations of modern French-Mediterranean cuisine. We started with a tasty prelude of salt cod beignet, followed by a gazpacho full of the flavours of summer tomatoes and garlic, which came with crab toast so hard it threatened to break teeth. Tender roast rack of lamb arrived with piperade and creamy polenta imbued with rosemary, but again there was a slip: chargrilled lamb's tongue that was slightly burnt.

Though the cooking so far failed to knock our socks off, impressive culinary skill was demonstrated by a carpaccio of watermelon; a dash of lemon oil enlivened the paper-thin slices of juicy fruit, and the addition of crushed strawberries soothed by lime ice-cream made it the perfect summer dessert. Look out for the fairly priced fixed-priced menus at lunch and early dinner.