Plump choice at F.a.T

The name F.a.T DINING ROOM refers not to what you are or might become, but to Florence Fowler and Tony Abarno, who were previously manager and chef at Alastair Little Lancaster Road.

Their new venture is on the first floor of a pub in Shoreditch. I had been warned by someone who lives nearby that it is a rough venue, but when we arrived a guitarist in the ground-floor part was singing hits from Herman's Hermits, Simon and Garfunkel and Peter, Paul and Mary. Maybe that is how they keep the natives docile.

Upstairs the sound was mercifully muted and four of us, sitting among nautical bric-à-brac and old black-and-white photographs, sorted out who would have what from the short, daily changing menu which had all the hallmarks of Alastair's vivid, market responsive approach to cooking.

The wooden table was disconcertingly sticky, the one waiter unnecessarily abrupt, although he mellowed as the evening wore on. We peeled our hands off the tabletop to enjoy the excellent bread and foccacia that were brought. A dish of the day was asparagus risotto. I ordered it as a first course but the waiter said it was a main course.

"Could I possibly have it as a first course?", I asked. "I suppose so," he replied. The others had salt cod fritters with aioli, pea-and-ham soup and grilled asparagus with shaved Parmesan and a balsamic dressing, all good dishes, and the risotto was textbook stuff.

Without squabbling we divvied up the four main courses: smoked haddock Florentine, grilled organic salmon with spring vegetables, roast duck breast with roast potatoes and Swiss chard, grilled rib-eye with Greek salad.

He of the rib-eye asked if he could have chard instead of Greek salad and his wish was granted. We didn't find fault with anything, in fact we enjoyed it a lot.

The spring vegetables - asparagus, green beans, baby carrots and spring onions - were a special pleasure and the duck nice and juicy.

The only taker for dessert chose prune-and-Armagnac ice cream and we shared some Stilton and oatcakes. By this time Jean-Francois, the waiter, had become almost, but not quite, jolly.

I liked F.a.T. Dining Room very much. I shall go back, remembering to take with me a damp J-Cloth.

F.a.T Dining Room at The Reliance
336 Old Street, EC1V 9DR