Highish times for NW5

The Highgate? Well, The Kentish Town, really. The Gospel Oak, at a pinch. But while the name is aspirational as much as geographical, this NW5 gastropub is friendlier than its smart exterior might suggest.

Behind the glass front there are leather chairs, maroon walls and a cool, casual crowd (where do these people come from? Do gastropubs brew them in the cellar?). The bar offers good drinks at straight-up pub prices.

The downstairs restaurant is a mixed success. With non-blaring music and well-spaced tables, you can actually have a conversation. And our wine, a French Merlot at £12.50, was perfect dinner juice - smooth but complex. Starters of Spanish charcuterie (£6) and a cauliflower soup (£4.50) were big and tasty. But while mains talked a good bite on the menu, ours were either overdone (grilled monkfish tail, £12) or left too long on the hotplate (steak-and-kidney pud and mash, £9).

Puddings were fab - créme brulèe or an equally rich breadandbutter pudding (both £4.50) - though wussier options such as sorbet would be welcome after such heavy fare.

We'll return to The Highgate as a pub, but if we're hungry we'll probably try the less fussy bar food. It's no rip-off, and a better option than the once-mighty The Vine opposite, but The Highgate still isn't quite as good as it looks.