Fine and funky

We liked a clever salad of baby gem, avocado, Roquefort and sugared hazelnuts; pairing gamey grilled quail with lemon and grapes was another inspired move. Penne with porcini ragu was a neat veggie riff on the original.

But I'd have liked more of a marriage between the pastry and rich, scented game filling of a poacher's pie. And an item which came on like my idea of heaven - duck fat oven chips with foie gras mayonnaise - really failed to float our boats: overcooked potatoes and strangely .imsy, sour mayo.

Chef Paul Adams wowed us when he cooked at Chelsea's Pig's Ear and he's done it again. When we visited, we were the only customers apart from that cliché, the confused old codger left over from its previous incarnation.

But after a gushing report from a notoriously vitriolic big-name critic at the weekend ('I think he's a friend of the owner,' our waitress innocently told us), that's bound to change pronto. Good. The Carpenter's Arms deserves it.

A meal for two with wine, water and service costs about £60. 91 Black Lion Lane W6. Tel: 020 8741 8386. Tube: Stamford Brook

The Carpenter's Arms
91 Black Lion Lane, W6 9BG