New-fangledness for the Chelsea brigade

Dan's in Chelsea was one of those restaurants I'd always meant to get to but never did.

Now it's too late to find out what attracted its loyal bunch of helmet-headed matrons-who-lunch, because the idiosyncratic space has been taken over by the team who own Carpaccio (a noisy trat at the other end of Sydney Street).

The tented, back garden room is the place to be, but we were in a kind of ante-corridor. This is the kind of old-school, upmarket, comfy-creamy, 'bella signora' restaurant that we thought as au courant as a dodo.

How odd, then, that the chef (ex-Tom Aikens) decided on a menu with little to appease the natives: not a pasta or a tricolore in sight.

Our food ranged from good to excellent - a slab of pork belly with cauliflower cream was ridiculously moreish: crispy, melting, rich; sea bass came with toasted black olive gnocchi and a red pepper jus that showed real artistry: the raspberry-pink essence of capsicum - but took ages to arrive and seemed massively at odds with the surroundings.

The Chelsea elder brigade seemed bemused by the new-fangledness of it all. There is talent in this kitchen. Let's hope they get a clientele who will appreciate it.

C Garden
119 Sydney Street, SW3