This modern european restaurant in Farringdon tries very hard to achieve the kind of atmosphere you get in top restaurants – white linen cloth tablecloths, large numbers of waitstaff in their pressed black and white outfits, and modern clean chic lines in the interior design. It should be stuffy and pompous but surprisingly it wasn’t. Waitstaff do all they can to make you feel comfortable and at home and the atmosphere is quite relaxed and by the time we left was quite buzzy.

Head chef Andrew Thompson is out to impress with his simple yet creative menu. After we’d all decided on our first two courses we were pleasantly surprised by the delivery of an unexpected amuse bouche (I stole this phrase from my brother!) For those whose French is not up to scratch an amuse bouch (literally meaning “mouth amuser”) is a small dish served as a first course – not necessarily a starter but served by the chef’s choice. Our waiter did tell us what it was (I heard sweet potato) but I didn’t catch it all. Was probably the best dish of the night – I would have licked the remains from the glass if I could have but settled for wiping it down with free bread instead. Mmm …

For our starters I went with a Salad of crab and avocado with chilled gazpacho and the other two went for Country terrine of pork pickles and toast and Barbeque quail pickled cabbage and chili mayonnaise (which would have been my second choice – so luckily I got to sample this when my brother chose it – ha ha!) All dishes were nicely presented. Taste wise mine certainly had interesting contrasting flavours but if I were to be honest I couldn’t really separate out the flavour of crab (even though I could feel its texture) and the gazpacho was just a little on the tangy side. Pat’s quail was good though he was disappointed that it wasn’t barbeque so much as pan-fried. Claire didn’t have much to say about her terrine except it was good.

For my main I couldn’t go past the Crisp confit pork belly and fricassée of coco beans and new season garlic. Claire went for the Potato gnocchi primavera grilled asparagus and shaved parmesan and Pat, once again going for what would have been my second choice, went for the Roast monkfish, chorizo, broad beans, peas and gem lettuce. The overall consensus was that all our dishes were overly salty. My pork belly was a little overcooked and though the garlic was beautiful there was just too much bean! I don’t think Claire and Pat were much impressed with the taste of the dishes though no doubt we agreed that all were presented beautifully.

I unfortunately couldn’t fit dessert in (after going out for lunch with the work crew pretty late on today) but the first two courses didn’t stop Pat and Claire going for it. Claire went for the intriguingly named Rum baba with tropical fruit and coconut (turns out to be fancy name for donut) and Pat, a boy after my own heart, the Ricotta Lemon cheesecake with pine nuts and raisins. Both desserts were very rich but the donut in the Rum Baba was unimpressively heavy and remained intact by the time we left the restaurant. In the first failure in service for the night I didn’t receive the Mint Tea that I asked for. This should have been served at the same time as dessert but required my asking for it twice before it was delivered. By the time it arrived we were ready to pay the bill and I wasn’t in the mood to finish it.

As a finishing touch to the meal a selection of chocolates were served to us on a long rectangular plate. I did appreciate these extra touches by the chef but in the second failure for the night service wise when we wanted the bill there was no waiter around to signal to! Strange considering all night they’d been hovering around (not intrusively) and readily accessible to us. It seemed that although we had one main water there were many other staff floating about who had their own roles – one to serve food, one to serve wine, etc.

Our bill came to just about £35 per head (which includes the 12.5% service charge) and drinking pure tap water. Admittedly the other two had three courses but I think this price is a bit hefty. You’d do well to take advantage of the offers available to get 50% (such as on toptable) – then its great value for money.

There were many things that impressed at the Clerkenwell Dining Rooms, the initially attentive service, the inventive menu, the extra touches by the chef, portion sizes but when it counted most, in the taste of our food, it was a bit let down by a heavy handed salting.