Plateau's lofty aspirations

What's in a name? The most recent venue to be set up by Sir Terence Conran is PLATEAU, in Canary Wharf. As you make your way out to this strange self-contained village of office blocks you cannot help but try to double guess the image consultants.

Most of his other restaurants are known for their crustacea bars - perhaps this Docklands newcomer will be awash with ice-laden platters bearing lobsters, crabs and winkles (why do they always include winkles and whelks? Have you ever seen anyone eating them?). Or perhaps Plateau is at the top of one of the taller buildings? Tall and flat-topped works well with Plateau.

None of the above applies. Plateau juts out from the fourth floor of a giant glass office block and looks out over a square surrounded by even larger towers. Visit at night and the view is amazing. Spooky, in a slightly Blade Runner sort of way, but incredible. Because all the other offices tower above you, there is no feeling of vertigo until you catch sight of a tiny bus moving around the square below. You can also see into the offices across the square - football fields of identical computer screens, all deserted. It's definitely unsettling.

Inside Plateau all is comfortable, the decor staid and un-designery except for a scattering of those lights beloved of ad agencies in the Seventies - a globe dangling at the end of an arch of steel. A couple of upscale operations have had a hard time trying to bring "fine dining" to Canary Wharf, but Plateau is already looking assured.

The menu is of stalwart construction - you can have seared foie gras with apples (precisely cooked liver surrounded by slightly over-reduced, and thus too sticky-brown, demi-glace). Or a chestnut broth (too thick to be a "broth", but good upfront flavours) with wild-mushroom ravioli. Or you can try a simple plate of smoked salmon.

Main courses tick a few comfortable boxes - grilled Dover sole, grouse with bread sauce, rib of beef forestière. Fillet of venison comes nicely pink; a dish of veal sweetbreads is a tad over-seasoned but very good. "Aligot" translates as pretty desirable mashed potato.

The service hasn't quite bedded in, but is obviously in the hands of professionals and you would expect it to get slicker. The wine list is refreshingly egalitarian - in such a lofty and aspirational establishment it is hard not to feel nervous, but before winging off into the stratosphere there is plenty of good drinking at under £25 a bottle and some at under £20.

Puds are sound - chocolate fondant, tart Tatin. At lunch, Plateau is odds-on to do good business, in a directors' dining room sort of way, but in the evening it is worth a visit purely to gaze out of the window.