Eating at the Canteen

When Canteen opened in Spitalfields in 2005, it was an instant success: simple bench seating and unpretentious but carefully sourced British food. Voted Observer Restaurant of the Year 2006, it was praised by almost all the critics.

Now a new branch has launched at the refurbished Royal Festival Hall, a massive 250-seater, almost twice the size of the original and with the additional pressures of having to satisfy a rushed pre-performance crowd. Does Canteen risk spoiling its own formula by going so big?

To judge by my visit, on just its fifth evening open, the new Canteen is more than up to the challenge. About half-full at 9pm on a Saturday night, service was good-humoured and slick, evidently helped by the move to the RFH of a number of experienced staff from Spitalfields.

Canteen takes up a large chunk of the ground floor of the RFH building on the Waterloo side. Its seats are mostly arranged in booths of four or six seats. These are very appealing - stylish and comfortable, with their own integrated lighting and coat racks. There's already a buzz to the place, although it was a lot less noisy than I had anticipated.

Starters at £4.50-£8 are also intended as light snacks, so you could choose the lemony, piquant potted shrimp on toast, as my wife did, or else perhaps smoked mackerel and potato salad, or hell, even devilled kidneys on toast in the middle of a hungry South Bank afternoon. The menu also offers around half of its starters and mains as "fast service" options to those in a hurry.

Tempting as such solid British classics were, I was unable to resist the eggs Benedict from the breakfast menu - an eccentric request met without a murmur by our waitress. And a fine choice it was: two very fresh eggs, perfectly poached, atop a generous slice of flavourful own-cooked ham and superior-quality English muffin, smothered with a good Hollandaise - in fact just about as devourable a plate of eggs Benedict as I've had this side of the Atlantic. Somehow I managed to bypass the other temptations of the breakfast menu (hot buttered Arbroath smokie; sausage and roast onion sandwich) for my main.

Aside from a brisk á la carte menu (half a dozen options including braised lamb with new potatoes, peas and mint; and tarragon, walnut and roast chicken salad), mains revolve around a daily fish, roast and pie.

I ate a meaty and delicious steak and kidney pie with mash and spinach; my wife enjoyed grilled skate wing with baby fennel. A side dish of green beans served with anchovy butter was crisp and fresh.

Desserts are traditional, too (Eton mess, treacle tart with Jersey cream); the gingerbread with rhubarb was homely but luscious. Better still was what must be one of the best-value cheeseboards in London - four English cheeses from Neal's Yard, including fabulously creamy Finn, for £7.

The New World-dominated wine list is not especially interesting, although adequate - and it is very good to see the entire list offered by the glass or in 250ml carafes. Reasonable prosecco at £4 a glass is good value; and it's most unusual to find Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2000, easily England's finest sparkling wine, on offer by the glass (£6.75).

The offer of a glass of Quinta do Noval port with the cheeseboard for £5 extra is a nice idea I found impossible to resist.

Canteen does not pretend to offer fine dining, but what it does - simple, high-quality British food in a buzzy atmosphere - it does extremely well.