One for the book

When eating out I try not to mix business with pleasure. What I mean is, my business may be finding sources of gastronomic pleasure but going out for the purposes of a review involves a certain mindset.

It was a friend who took me to Chapter One in Kent in order to celebrate his birthday. I wasn't planning to review the restaurant but was interested by it, thought you might be too, and it occurred to me that it could be some time before I was organised enough to get back to the environs of Bromley.

The premises are a former pub, the sort which, lying outside a town or village, gets called a roadhouse. I was impressed by the number of cars parked outside the long, low building on a Tuesday evening. Once inside, studying the menu, I thought the reason was probably the laudably fair pricing - first courses £5.95, main courses £15.50, desserts £5.50 - for a one-star Michelin, AA Restaurant of the Year establishment.

Chef Andrew McLeish has worked with Nico Ladenis and at The Ritz. He was head chef at The Dining Room at The Landmark Hotel before the arrival of John Burton-Race (now gone). His cooking has the hallmarks of drive and ambition, meaning that ingredients often appear in a form unrecognisable from the original.

Presentation in the shape of towers is a favoured approach, mousses crop up unexpectedly and vegetables are apt to be pureed. One of our party, a cookery writer, ventured that it all seemed a little dated, but there was no denying quite a lot of deliciousness. You just had to be careful in the ordering to avoid too much cream and too many veloutes.

My risotto of Perigord truffle with creme fraiche and Parmesan had perfect texture but was super-rich. Creme fraiche sounds virtuous but the fat content is the same as cream. Following it with poached and roasted squab pigeon, pithivier of confit leg, creamed leeks, turnip puree and truffle jus - the dish displayed as three little cylinders with various accoutrements - the creaminess of the leeks was one little dab of luxury too far. The meat, however, was beautifully prepared.

My cookery-writer friend started with a hand-dived sea scallop which she observed was so enormous it wouldn't be possible to overcook it. Accompanying the giant mollusc were croquette of brandade of cod and a scallop and curry velouté served in a shot glass. More velouté, this time flavoured with smoked haddock lapped round her wild line-caught seabass with tortellini of haddock and an insignificant amount of roasted cauliflower, the tipping point for ordering the dish.

Other dishes enthusiastically received were ravioli of lobster with cauliflower purée, roast fillet of air-hung beef with slow-braised shin and roasted foie gras, and braised oxtail taken off the bone, shaped into a cylinder with a mousse on top and placed on the plate with one roasted parsnip leaning insouciantly against it. Nice, juicy meat was the verdict on that.

None of us could muster much appetite for dessert but we shared a hot chocolate fondant with Tahitian vanilla ice-cream and also some cheeses described at greater length and in more detail than they deserved. It's not hard nowadays to buy brilliant cheese. This lot looked as if assembled from the shelves of a supermarket.

Staff at Chapter One are notably friendly and enthusiastic and in Ludovic Pech the restaurant has a passionate sommelier (in charge of a vivaciously marked-up list). There seems to be an unusual amount of dedication, from the chef onwards, to show everyone a good time. Which was just right for a birthday party.