Stravaigin Café Bar

The 2013 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2013) edition.

There’s always a lively buzz around this ground-level section of the popular restaurant where staff move with a studied air of relaxed professionalism amid babbling West Enders. Although it’s lighter in spirit and intentionally less formal than the room below, it maintains the same ethos: market fresh ingredients with some clever cooking and creative touches. The bistro delights in a jumble of suitably shabby chic styles – churchy booths, school desk tables and distressed wood backdrops with junk shop bric-a-brac dotted around the walls and a shoogly mezzanine level adding a good ten extra tables to the mix. The dishes mix familiar staples with less usual elements like raisin purée, pickled apples, caraway polenta or walnut-crusted lythe. A seasonal starter of pan-fried sea bream gets a wash of lively highlights from its accompaniments of pickled okra and turtle bean purée while a bed of Louisiana rice dotted with chopped chicken livers bombards the humble fish with some entertaining meaty flavours. Stravaigin also know their wines, whiskies and sherries and the bistro shares the restaurant's impressive international cellar.

• High point: Great buzz, great cooking
• Low point: Old school seats look good but a tad uncomfy