Standard class at Kazan

Major train stations in other cities usually trail some pretty serious restaurants. Take Paris, with gorgeous, opulent brasseries like Terminus Nord and Le Train Bleu. Here, instead, we mostly get a pustulous rash of McDonald's and KFCs.

Victoria - with the exception of the marvellous Christopher's - is largely surrounded by weird trats and fast food joints, so Kazan seemed to offer an alternative.

Previously a branch of Sofra, it's been taken over by some of the staff and turned into an independent operation serving, well, food much like Sofra, actually.

Borek came in the form of little samosas, these were good, with a well-judged mint/cheese filling. Sadly, falafel were duff: heavy, floury, worthy, as my date said, like something off the Carol Vorderman Detox diet.

Amateurism prevails: a couple of our requested dishes were unavailable, meaning what we ended up ordering as main courses was a bit samey.

A mixed grill featuring good, smoky chargrilled meat (lamb, kofte, chicken) was identical to a Kazan Special (as before, with the addition of bread and thick yoghurt). On top of all this, shop-bought baklava made us feel as though we'd eaten a couple of bricks.

Kazan's not expensive - starters around £4, mains £11 - but neither is it likely to become a destination for anyone other than the Victoria-bound commuter.