Good starter

Chamberlayne Road runs from Willesden Green, past Brondesbury Park to Kensal Rise. These are all names to gladden the heart of a gastropub entrepreneur, because Chamberlayne Road winds its way through swathes of just the right kind of houses filled with just the right kind of customers - not too posh, but not too poor either.

So it's no surprise that, from its first week (towards the end of November), the Greyhound has been busy.

There are two long rooms stretching back from the pavement. On the left, as you look at it, is the bar and to the right the dining room. The open kitchen is to the rear of the restaurant and a couple of large doors link drinking with dining.

For somewhere so very new, it is running commendably smoothly despite being busy. While they may not have actually been camping out for opening night, you can see that the locals are very pleased to have their own gastropub at last - now they are spared the trek north to The Green in Willesden or east to The Salusbury in Queens Park. The kitchen is still finding its feet, but the food is good and the regularly changing menu short and to the point.

Starters range from sweet potato and coconut soup to a very good assembly of roast pumpkin with garlicky field mushrooms and delicious cavolo nero. A pickled mackerel salad with crisp bacon and sauce gribiche featured mackerel that may have spent a little too long in the pickle, but a smoked ham hock and foie gras terrine was well seasoned and showed that the kitchen knows its stuff.

The short list of mains ranges from fish and chips, grilled swordfish (not very ecologically sound as we shouldn't be eating the last of these magnificent fish), a decent blue cheese and cherry tomato risotto (although perhaps the rice was a little crunchy), to sirloin steak with Cafe de Paris butter and chips, and a good large steak, accurately cooked and tender (but then it should be at £15). The wine list is userfriendly and avoids merciless smash and grab - there's plenty at under £25. Service is friendly, too, and the Greyhound deserves its warm welcome to NW10.

The Greyhound Pub And Dining Room
64-66 Chamberlayne Road, NW10 3JJ