Tasty French local

Among restaurateurs, 123 Queenstown Road is an address of which to take note. Home to a succession of fine restaurants over 20 years, top chef Nico Ladenis used this as a stopping-off point between his place in Dulwich and Chez Nico in the West End. It then became the Stepping Stone - an apt description, as several highprofile chefs worked here on their way to greater things.

Ten years on and it is all change again. In the summer, Eric and Sarah Guignard (who are no mugs in the local restaurant department, having set up the rather good French Table in Surbiton) took over the Stepping Stone, renamed it The Food Room and installed chef Sebastien Mondoulet to run the kitchen. Now, granted that Battersea residents are fairly affluent, and that this site has worked up a reputation for classy food over the years, The Food Room is quite ambitious for a local restaurant, and serves well-presented and sophisticated French food.

If terms like 'sophisticated French food' ring alarm bells, take heart - there may be rectangular plates, but flavours are upfront and dishes have a hearty and genuine feel to them. Starters range from soup - velouté of sweetcorn with chicken dumpling - to a well-made terrine of marinated salmon, potato and sun-dried tomatoes served with dill dressing. The terrine looks elegant and the kitchen has a deft hand with flavours - it is delicious. Even more complex is the starter of roast quail, which comes boned out and with a decent celeriac remoulade and deep-fried quails' eggs.

Mains range from pan-fried halibut served with spicy marinated vegetables and Bearnaise sauce, to best end of lamb on spinach with a croustillant of red onion chutney and lamb shoulder confit. Rump of veal comes with a cannelloni stuffed with aubergine relish (which is somewhat mushy and undistinguished), while caramelised pork belly with a good, powerful green tomato chutney is more successful.

Puds are elaborate affairs, with a sabayon of summer berries with blueberry sorbet being one of the more straightforward offerings, while a 'gratin of coffee with mocha ice cream and creme Anglaise' turns out to be a small disc of coffee mousse with a crunchy sugar top and a sound enough supporting cast of ice cream and custard. The wine list covers most bases and there is a sensible array of wines by the glass.

The room is plain and elegant, service is sound, and the cooking is good. But this is one local restaurant where you can almost smell the ambition in the air. Unlike its sibling the French Table (which has a pervasive, laid-back charm), there is a powerful sense of purpose at The Food Room. You could be forgiven for wondering whether Mondoulet sees it as merely a stepping stone.

The Food Room
123 Queenstown Road, SW8 3RH