Sixpenny

The name of this much-awaited Stanmore newcomer references the sixpenny and fourpenny restaurants of the 1850s that fed the working classes cheap, filling meals of beef or boiled mutton accompanied by vast amounts of potato. But that's hardly the case in this dusky, wood-toned, Nordic-influenced dining room. Instead, two former Young Chefs of the Year, James Parry and Daniel Puskas, create a series of small but dazzling dishes and bring them to the table themselves. That could mean house-malt vinegar crisps with baby pickled vegetables, followed by little toasted 'knuckle sandwiches' and a beautifully silky dish of mud crab and macadamia cream. Much is botanical, herbal and lightly acidic. 'Peas, beans and soft cheese' is like eating in a garden, and softly textured snapper in pumpkin seed cream with crunchy crushed pumpkin seeds is all gentle, textural harmony. At the end of the night, everyone gets caught with their hands in the cookie jar, hunting for kingstons and monte carlos.