Gastroclubbing for ravers

It took us a while to suss the essence of Canal 125. The mirror with a massive ornate frame overlooking the room? 'A bit gay,' says Tall Chris. The house music played is loud enough to kill the digestive fire, yet in terms of the tunes and the technical skill in the mixing it's a high-end, older-crowd DJ bar.

Goldfish in a big bowl, sunflowers on the table and charcoals of nudes say kooky to me. The lighting is low and rouge, which obscures the odd rough edge to the decor but doesn't let you avoid them. When a friend dropped by for a drink she had a painful wrestle with a bolt sticking out on the front door. There's wine, basic popular cocktails, Musetti coffee and a big balcony.

'It's Ibiza,' said TC, and he was right. It reminded us of going out to eat and drink in an environment that makes you want to go out some more. Canal 125 shouldn't be by the canal (albeit a steam-cleaned stretch of the Regent's), it should be by the road to San Juan or San José. It even has San Miguel on tap.

Canal 125 taps into the trend for gastroclubbing, those pubs that cater for the experience, nostalgia and the perceived credibility of bygone ravers. Include in this genre any pub owned by Mr Sara Cox, Jon Carter, and The Metropolitan in Westbourne Park.

The food is modern European and despite being seasonal, has a sunny edge. Success came in the form of a soufflé-light crayfish frittata and smoked salmon with potato cakes and crème fraiche. Less successful starters were a red onion soup with gruyère croutons which tasted and looked more like a glossy gravy. Smoked chicken was moist and flavourful, but its bang bang sauce was a little sickly. The whole thing kicked off with warm rosemary bread, balsamic and grassy olive oil.

The attention to detail revealed something about the protagonists at Canal 125. Dave Marazzi has 15 plus years in upscale West End bars, Sylvain Solignac opened the Crazy Bear which recently won ES Bar Of The Year. Their chef is Gary King who was head sous at Christopher's in Covent Garden.

A rib eye was as tender as I've ever known that cut to be, full of aged, happy cow flavour. Halibut with shrimps in brown butter was a bright-looking dish using quality ingredients, but overall felt greasy. There were distinct hits of sweet, sour and earth in the duck with celeriac mash and blackcurrant sauce. TC found it unsubtle, but ingredients, again, were great. A shared chocolate torte with prune and armagnac ice cream was voluptuous and velvety. The chips were ace too.

It stays open til midnight, which is lovely, but would be better if they could chill with the slightly anal service. Canal 125 should please relaxed foodies with a taste for dissolute living.