Bistro Union

Chef Adam Byatt seems to like Clapham. His first restaurant, Thyme, proved such a huge neighbourhood hit that he and his business partner moved it from SW4 into the West End, to be part of The Hospital Club - where it failed. The move upmarket to an 'exclusive' site was ill judged; too expensive, too overblown, too up itself. Byatt lost a fortune. But he licked his wounds, moved back to Clapham, and tried once more to create a cracker of a neighbourhood restaurant. Trinity opened in 2006, started well - and got better. Trinity is now the best restaurant in Clapham, serving startlingly good modern European food in a professionally run, yet comfortable environment.

Expansion during a recession is a tricky move, so Byatt has wisely avoided trying to create a Trinity II, especially one that's only 15 minutes' walk away and in a Clapham back street. Bistro Union is less expensive than Trinity, yet echoes a lot of the more recent West End trends - British-led ingredients, a consciously more casual vibe, and prices that ensure Abbeville Road locals can keep coming back.

The beards and braces of the staff; prominent bar with Freedom lager fonts; the mismatched cutlery kept in help-yourself drawers under the bar; and bar food such as the 'fish finger sarnie' are part of making sure customers don't feel intimidated - and it works. But the Hix-ish menu shows the same sort of attention to detail you find at Trinity (where they even make their own butter).

The bar snacks include on-trend dishes such as 'duck ham' that's cured then dried on the premises, which was salty and slightly overcured, but nicely matched with a sharp, own-made piccalilli. Sharp slivers of raw fennel were mixed up with buttery little grey shrimps and radish, served on a chewy Bread Company sourdough base.

There's a certain amount of Jamie-like humour to some dishes. Spit-roast chicken for two is served like the US dish beer-can chicken, an undignified booty-up presentation for the fowl, with two knives stuck in it like flags at Little Bighorn.The organic, free-range Noah's Ark Farm bird was moist and flavoursome. Sea bream is cooked using that '70s bistro technique, en papillote, the inflated paper bag ballooning around the fish like a puffed-up calzone. The puddings reference nostalgia favourites: knickerbocker glory, baked apple cobbler, rhubarb and custard, even 'tapioca with raspberry jam and gold top milk' (gold top being higher-fat milk, from Channel Island breeds).

The jokey dish names parody the absence of junk food. The actual children's menu (served at lunch and early dinner) includes a huge bowl of mussels, which a young girl at the table next to us was tucking into with the panache and prowess of a true mademoiselle. Afternoon tea or bar snacks are also served 3-5pm, to bridge that afternoon gap. The front bar area is no-bookings, but serves the full restaurant menu.

The stretch between Clapham Common and Clapham South is on a bit of a roll lately, with two other fabulous food-first venues - Abbeville Kitchen, right opposite Bistro Union, and The Rookery, which faces Clapham Common - also opening in recent months. The arrival of Bistro Union has therefore created a new, wholly appetising trinity.