Another gem for Chiswick

Like most Shepherd's Bush residents, I am consumed with envy and self-loathing about the fact that I can't afford to live in Notting Hill Gate. However, I've always been able to congratulate myself that at least I don't live in Chiswick.

It's like that famous black-and-white sketch about the difference between the upper classes, the middle classes and the working classes: Notting Hillbillies may look down on us and we may look up to them, but at least we aren't at the bottom of this tripartite hierarchy. That position is occupied by the wretched suburbanites who live in Chiswick.

Alas, this straw I've been clutching at has now been snatched away. According to the most authoritative sources - that is, estate agents - Chiswick is the new Notting Hill.

It boasts a roster of local celebrities, including Colin Firth, Timothy Dalton, Vanessa Redgrave, Jeremy Irons, Kate Beckinsale and - most impressive of all - Ant and Dec.

It has a world-class deli in the form of Mortimer & Bennett on Turnham Green Terrace and a number of high-profile restaurants, including Fishworks, Frankie's Italian Bar and Grill, and La Trompette.

The grand Georgian houses in St Peter's Square - the Lansdowne Crescent of Chiswick - are worth upwards of £3 million and, to top it all, a branch of Soho House is about to open in what used to be Foubert's Hotel on Chiswick High Road. From now on, it seems, I'm going to have to look down on Ealing.

The latest addition to the area's glittering array of prizes is Sam's Brasserie, a trendy new restaurant that opened last August. Situated in Barley Mow Passage at what is still considered 'the wrong end' of Chiswick High Road, it's the brainchild of Sam Harrison, a protégé of Rick Stein.

After working as Stein's general manager in Cornwall for several years, Harrison decided to strike out on his own, and managed to persuade a host of successful restaurateurs, including his old boss, to back him. It's not difficult to see why. The good-looking Old Etonian exudes an air of limitless self-confidence as he tirelessly works the room.

The interior, which was created by a local company called Design LSM, is Pompidou Centre Lite - what a colleague of mine calls 'flying ducts up the wall'. Not particularly original, but at least it serves to differentiate Sam's Brasserie from the restaurant chains that dominate this part of the world.

I made the mistake of taking my wife and children to the Chiswick branch of EST on Mother's Day - we couldn't get a table at Frankie's - and it was among the worst restaurant experiences of my life. If well-run, reasonably priced independents such as Sam's Brasserie can put culinary black holes like EST out of business, more power to their elbow.