Stepping in the right direction

Gary Levy, owner of THE STEPPING STONE, made the point that, since I reviewed the restaurant soon after it opened in 1994 and then included it in a round-up of the best of the year, fewer than half the places in that list were still trading. Ah, yes. Wild World, Kartouche, Tabac, Chiaroscuro, Fulham Road, Atelier, The Heights; where are they now? In the history of restaurants, eight years is a long time.

A new head chef at The Stepping Stone, itself a replacement of Christian Delteil's much-missed Michelin-starred L'Arlequin, prompted a return visit. Richard Harrison worked for nearly four years with Hywel Jones when he was at the Mandarin Oriental, Hyde Park, and before that with Steven Doherty, a graduate of Le Gavroche, at The Punch Bowl Inn in Cumbria.

The menu, printed for each service, is, however, credited as a joint production of Richard, Frank, Magic and Abigail, a detail which goes some way to explaining the unusually agreeable attitude of all the staff. They are seemingly valued, treated with consideration.

Our pulchritudinous waitress, Sophie, certainly remained good-natured even in the face of a marriage proposal from Luke Mangan, the Australian chef of the restaurants Salt and Lulu's in Sydney, who was one of our party.

Luke really liked The Stepping Stone. He ate in that slightly combative way that all chefs do, but with huge enthusiasm and empathy. He raved about his first course of sautèed squid with chorizo, red onion, coriander and rocket, and, having nabbed a bit of my roast partridge approved of that, and when testing Reg's oxtail gave it the thumbs up after a judicious sprinkling of salt, and thought that the lentils with Tim's choice of cod baked in Parma ham quite delicious, although that is not the phrase he used.

We all agreed that celeriac remoulade was not the ideal accompaniment for roasted quail, a first course, but that the watercress soup was nicely pure, true to its origins. From the section of dishes offered at two sizes and two prices, the eggs Benedict made with Serrano ham and a layer of crumbled black pudding was fabulous.

We shared Neal's Yard cheeses and treacle tart with clotted cream to wind up the long and lively dinner.

The Stepping Stone is a large space divided by arches and slabs of vibrant colour. Tables of four and more predominated the evening we were there, contributing to the general racket, but custom, according to Gary Levy, is totally unpredictable.

Good people of Battersea, keep this restaurant full.

The Food Room
123 Queenstown Road, SW8 3RH