Lacking in buzz at Rudlands

This review was published in August 2002

Like many people, I thought the area around Smithfield had become 'one of the vibrant pulsing ventricles in the heart of London's exciting nightlife', as an enthusiastic guidebook might put it.

Nevertheless, cruising around the streets of this fragrant quartier on a summer Saturday evening, looking for fish restaurant Rudland & Stubbs, I couldn't see much evidence of fashionable London out and about enjoying itself. There was a ragged crowd of sorts hanging around outside Turnmills, a couple of people were hosing down a meatwagon in the middle of Smithfield and that was about it.

On about my fourth circuit I succumbed to the indignity of ringing the restaurant and announcing that I was unable to locate it. Hardly surprising since I eventually found it down a tiny alleyway called Greenhill Rents.

With its bar, glazed brick walls and old-fashioned seating format - the odd dais, the occasional screened booth - Rudland & Stubbs gives a good impression of having been around for some time, which I believe it has.

If the area is supposed to be buzzing, Rudland & Stubbs was buzzing about as much as one of those mosquitoes caught in amber a few million years ago. There were a couple of other tables in use when we arrived, but they cleared off about halfway through, leaving us to the splendid silence of a large, sparsely furnished restaurant.

A shallow bowl of cockles with a couple of cocktail sticks was a nice diversion while we waited for our dinner, but the effect was marred by the bread, piping hot on the outside, barely defrosted at its core.

The food is pleasantly dated in a post-prawn cocktail sort of way. The prawn cocktail appears in the guise of prawns in saffron dressing, with leeks and a maple syrup dressing - it sounds odd, but tasted fine. A dish of crab and horseradish - a mildly inventive take on dressed crab - was the winning starter.

Mains felt like they belonged to the late Nineties. Pan-fried dorade was served with plenty of rice and a pleasant kedgeree-like light curry sauce. I went for what we used to call the Full Monty - grilled swordfish served with burnt butter and coconut sauce with mango and coriander salad. We finished with a crumble that was more of a fruit compote with a vaguely crumble-like topping.

Rudland & Stubbs
35-37 Greenhill Rents, Cowcross Street, EC1M 6BN