Caveau

Caveau (French for cellar) has a dark and cosy interior, with technicolour brightness coming from the plates. Take an apple sorbet sandwich dessert, for example, with its blueberry dots and apple stripes as background graphics for an apple parfait scoop and sci-fi globe of apple jelly so pretty you could sell it in a gallery. It's also flavour unbound - crisp apple sweetness playing off cooler, turned-down levels of the ingredient and a wildcard dash of blackberry coulis. Another impressive dish by chef Peter Sheppard has macerated figs teamed with a 'patchwork' of parmesan crisps, decorative flowers, dots of banyuls wine reduction and the knockout power of blue cheese mousse. Kingfish, cured with citrus and crusted with herbs, comes with the zap of horseradish cream and addictive smoked potato jelly. Linguine with roasted king browns and truffles may not have the high-voltage theatre of such dishes, but, like a visit to Caveau, it lingers in the memory.