A sporting success

A quarter of a century ago, Sport London e Benfica was a successful football team with a bustling cafe-cum-clubroom wedged somewhere between Westbourne Grove and Notting Hill.

You can tell that it was successful because serried ranks of silverware line the entrance of their newer, larger premises in Kensal Green, and you can tell that this is a Portuguese establishment by the giant satellite tellies which seem to offer an endless loop of Continental football.

About four years ago, London e Benfica moved up to 988 Harrow Road and there is now a large restaurant - with a small stage that threatens music on high days and holidays - as well as a no-frills bar and club room to one side. The restaurant customers range from middle-aged Portuguese businessmen nursing giant snifters of Black

Label Whisky, to young Portuguese couples out for dinner and drinking beer. All the tables have a view of the TV and the excitable commentator is piped through the speakers around the room, so that he seems to be everywhere at once.

The food is very good, honest, straightforward, giant portions, uncompromising. It is also very good value. This place is set up for the Portuguese community and depends on repeat business and local loyalty.

That in turn means that visitors get the benefit of some splendid bargains. The starters range from the familiar - deep-fried squid, ham, melon with ham - to the odd. Ordering chourico assado brings a ribbed earthenware dish with two substantial chorizo sausages on it.

As it is placed on the table the waiter casually flicks his cigarette lighter and a deep pool of eau de vie is set alight under the sausages. Goodness knows how much liquor there is, as it burns fiercely for several minutes. The sausages end up singed and crispy. It is rare to get such a formidable dish, flambéed at table, and then only be charged £4! Polvo à Galega is a cold octopus salad lifted with an excessive amount of sweet paprika.

The star starter is the ameijoa à marinheira. This is a plate of stunning fresh clams swimming bravely through a butter sauce. The clams are tiny and sweet, the sauce demands a refill of the bread basket.

For mains, fish gets the priority here - 14 fish dishes, including the classic dish for two, arroz de marisco. The portions are daunting. Bacalhau na brasa is salt cod soaked in water and milk to de-salt it and then grilled before being served with boiled potatoes - you can choose whether you want it Portuguese style which adds a great deal of olive oil and garlic. The portion is a cut across a huge fish. It's big enough for two or three people.

On the meat side of things, posta à Mirandesa is subtitled 'big beef cube grilled served with special potatoes'. The special spuds disappoint - underdone cheesy chips. But the meat is amazing - 500g of perfectly cooked rump steak cut about 3cm thick dressed with oil, herbs, green onion and garlic. This may be London's best steak, and at £12 it is certainly runaway winner of the 'best value steak' prize.