500 not quite fit for Kings

This review was published in March 2002

You have to worry when the prevailing aroma in a restaurant is some kind of industrial disinfectant. Even if the food had been Michelin quality at 500 Kings Road, it would have suffered from the taint of Izal; as it was, the meal we ate didn't have anything like the gumption to fight against it.

This large, bright corner space looks cobbled together, the furniture appears to have been bought in a job lot from an altogether different establishment: weirdly coloured laminated tables, bar stools the shade of sticking plasters, a collection of 'art' of a dilettante-ish demeanour.

More anxiety is caused by the menu, whose lofty ambitions rather jarred with the amateurish decor: hunger sent us hurtling toward the comparative safety of the brunch option, though we chose starters from the a la carte.

At each stage, my date fared better than I did: his grilled goat's cheese on roasted pumpkin with truffle oil was rich, sticky and satisfying; my home-made ravioli with aubergine and Roquefort in a lemon thyme broth had leaked their off-puttingly grey interiors into a soupy liquid reminiscent of Lemon Fairy washing-up liquid.

Then his smoked haddock brandade was a comforting stodge of fish and buttery potato, topped with a perfectly poached egg and hollandaise; my eggs Benedict boasted the same hollandaise but my eggs were solidly rubbery, my ham pinkly insipid and my muffins unbuttered (oo-er).

The whole experience, including the truly sweet but rather ditzy Italian staff, smacked of a tyro operation; perhaps we would have been better off sticking to the 500 Cottage Pie.

500 Kings Road
500 Kings Road, SW10 0LE