Greyhound is the top dog

I've had some splendid meals this year in pubs - Mexican wave for the Anchor And Hope, The Farm, The Gun, The Ebury, Blake House and the Palmerston in Dulwich. The Greyhound in Battersea more than matched all of these.

Behind the Greyhound is an exsommelier of the Greenhouse, an egoless Aussie, Mark Van Der Goot. He has two wine lists. One affordable, comprehensive and imaginative, with nothing over £35, the other a top-of-the-class study in affordable £30-£180 fine and rare wines. We splashed out, £37 on an Argentinean wine that was so rare it had a written label.

With four starters and four mains it's a short but impeccably modern menu, very wannabe Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck (chef Tom Martinovic spent time there). Beetroot ice cream topped a dish of braised veal shin. The meat had been cooked for a couple of days Heston B. style, the ice cream melted into the celeriac puree and was lovely. My date, Grub, is not a foodie, yet he went into rhapsodies about his Cornish monkfish carpaccio which came in a thin disk with avocado, sesame seeds and three perfect little fried calamari on top. We snuck a taste of the Herdwick mutton loin which had a sensational flavour and texture, like a meat toffee. A must try.

The presentation is dandy with square plates - my pet hate --dressed with lively splashes of colourful purees. The only thing wrong with the Greyhound is slightly miserable lighting, an oddshaped room and a couple of unattractive bar stools.

One tiddly quibble, I was not able to perfectly taste the chocolate marquise because one of the two ice creams sitting on it was slightly sorbet-like and mildly numbing to certain tastebuds. The chef is trying hard here, occasionally too hard.

Scottish halibut - dense, rich, chewy, full-flavoured - was balanced with a fluffy black pudding wrapped in pancetta and a coleslaw salad that was refreshing with crunch. Grub's Anglais chicken breast, oozing with mollycoddled chicken flavour, brought forth a eulogy: 'This is the Platonic ideal of chicken'. Excuse the philosophy and superlatives, but the food, service and value for money are fantastic at the Greyhound.

The Greyhound
1 Kensington Square, W8 5EP