Canteen

Most of the time, I'm not really interested in haute cuisine or fancy tricks by a chef. I do want big helpings, good quality ingredients, well defined flavours and quick attentive service. So Canteen is one of my favourite places, because it emphasises simple food, good produce, and no-fuss dining. It was even voted Observer Food Monthly's Best Restaurant of 2007. The food is British, with a simple wine list, with a number of old favourites that are hard to get anywhere else.

There are 2 Canteens, one at Spitalfields Market and the other at the Royal Festival Hall in South Bank. Both are equally good, although the original was the Spitalfields branch.

Canteen
2 Crispin Place
Spitalfields
London E1 6DW

or

Canteen
Royal Festival Hall
Belvedere Road
London SE1 8XX

Canteen does all day breakfast items and three course meals for lunch and dinner. There's a choice of pie (vegetarian and meat), which comes with greens, mashed potato and gravy, that changes daily. I've had steak and kidney; broccoli, leeks and blue cheese; chicken and mushroom; and duck and chestnut, among others. There's also a daily roast - roast pork with applesauce, roast beef with yorkshire pudding, roast lamb etc etc. I've always found the roast to be the best value for money - the helpings are huge, and for an average price of 12 pounds it can't be beaten. The last choice is the daily fish dish, which ranges from skate to haddock to cod. The regular menu items also change every few months, depending on what's in season I suppose.

My favourite starter, and one I've had on 90% of my visits to Canteen, is the devilled lamb kidneys on toast. On my last visit I even had a double helping as a mains. The dish is basically 5 or 6 lamb kidneys devilled with cayenne pepper, butter and roasting juices heaped on an inch-thick piece of nut bread, swimming in gravy. Very tasty, with the spice level ratcheted up at just below the pain threshold. The kidneys are always fresh and flavourful, which suits an offal lover like me. I usually have this with a bottle of O'Hanlon's Ruby Port Stout, whatever else I'm drinking.

There's also the potted duck and piccalilli with toast - one gets just as much piccalilli as duck, which is helpful when assembling the perfect open top sandwich. Other good starters are hot buttered Arbroath smoky, which also comes with bread, and Cashel blue, chicory, pear and hazelnut salad. All are as simple as they sound, and as tasty.

If the roast, fish and the pies aren't to one's taste, I recommend the following choices on the mains - slow roasted pork belly with apples (no mash - that comes with the roast choice), macaroni and cheese, battered cod with chips and rump steak with mushrooms (also comes with roast tomatoes). Don't have the gammon with potatoes and parsley sauce - the gammon seems to have been boiled rather than fried or grilled, and the parsley sauce is overpowering. But it's a rare miss in what is otherwise a great selection.

Desserts are a treat too. The Pretty Lady and I were very disappointed when they took the treacle tart and cream off the menu for several months. It's highly recommended, because it's clotted cream and the tart is perfectly moist and fresh, so don't delay - order it if it's on the menu! Other recommended choices include Eton mess; jelly, shortbread and ice-cream; and fruit crumbles with custard (try the apple!).

Scores:

3 April 2008: TFQ = 26, CS = 25, S = 14, AD = 6, VfM = 7. Total = 78 points.

What does this mean?