Little more than a pit stop

I'm confused. The Carnaby should be stunning, given that it's headed up by the same Elisha Carter as Silk and is way, way simpler. But it comes over as an afterthought.

Despite the fact that the rest of the hotel brandishes some marvellously overwrought design - water features, private drinking rooms fashioned from the old cells - The Carnaby has the unglamorous air of a Midlands Trusthouse Forte.

The short menu is equally proletarian: sandwiches (albeit Club and Croque), burger, chicken tikka masala. And realisation is perfunctory: the salad in a yellowfin tuna nicoise tasted recently de-bagged, the tuna fashioned into weird pucks.

Gravadlax was good, though, with home-cured appearance and taste. There was a misunderstanding about my battered haddock tail; while we waited for it to be rectified, the date's cod had clearly been lurking on the pass, welding its pancetta coating into a resilient armour. The haddock, when it reappeared, was a functional bit of fish with bashed petit pois masquerading as the real deal.

I'd guess that Carter's energies are concentrated on Silk - and it shows. Lovely staff notwithstanding, The Carnaby is little more than a pit stop.

A three-course meal for two with wine, water and service costs about £80. Details same as main story

The Carnaby
Great Marlborough Street, London, W1F 7HL