A dead cert

A lot of care has gone into creating The Greyhound. Admittedly, the team behind it have had practice: this is the sister venue to The Highgate in Kentish Town and Gunmakers in Clerkenwell. Which makes it, in an unsalubrious stretch of Kensal Rise, a delightful find.

Split into two halves, the pub side is stuffed with reclaimed furniture (including obligatory leather sofas) and an impressive array of gins, while the dining room has a friendly buzz and soon filled up with punters, despite it being a wet Tuesday.

It wasn't hard to see why. This is note-perfect gastropub food: delicious, filling, modern British and European grub. A starter of terrine of pigeon, prune, foie gras and celeriac was a pungent slab of meat in which all its ingredients shone through. My soft, yielding grilled squid with pickled chillies and lemon was also spot on. Fillet of sea bass with linguini, chervil and caviar sauce was as decadent-tasting as it sounds. Roast cod with parmesan mash, shitake mushrooms and rosemary was a glorious mixture of comfortfood flavours. Both pieces of fish were incredibly fresh.

The chocolate tart gave a hit that would sate any chocoholic, but the panna cotta put it in the shade: an ethereal dessert that caressed your mouth before dissolving into a creamy taste.

Dreamy and full up, we paid the £71.85 bill (a bit steep for a pub, but we were happy). It was only the next morning that I realised they'd slapped someone else's drinks on to our bill - not so happy now.

The Greyhound Pub And Dining Room
64-66 Chamberlayne Road, NW10 3JJ