Hit the Beach bar but wave off the food

Luckily my sister and I are such diehard fans of Notting Hill's original Beach Blanket Babylon that even the annoyingly unmarked door and stinky reviews of their new east London sister venture couldn't put us off.

And if bad reviews were rotten eggs this place has just been pelted with enough to make the world's biggest, smelliest flan. But we were glad we came. First, because the decor is drop-dead fabulous.

Massive windows are stencilled a la Jan Pienkowski (the Meg And Mog children's book illustrator) with a riot of deer and trees.

Atmospheric lighting illuminates an open warehouse space, complete with impressive cocktail bar (our apple and blackberry martini was consummate) and decorated with everything from a mad clock to a beautiful fresco. Second, management have taken criticism on board: our friendly waitress had none of the snooty attitude we'd been led to expect.

And the horror story food had been pared down to a simple menu of crowd-pleasers, though still not simple enough, judging by my £10.50 starter, which took three perfectly cooked scallops and glazed them in what tasted like rancid caramel.

Oh well. My sister's crab and avocado salad was pleasing, if unremarkable. However, her lamb rump (£14) was so fatty she soon had a small Everest of inedible offcuts on the side of her plate. I had to slip her some of my excellent rare sirloin beefburger with pan-seared foie gras (£15.50).

True, even TGI Friday can do a good burger, but the fat chips had us in raptures, as did our £6 desserts (a melting lemon tart and a very vanilla creme brulee). Basically, ditch the restaurant, head for the bar, order cocktails and chips and snuggle into its many charms. If you can find the door, that is.

Beach Blanket Babylon
Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA