The perfect local

There was a baby taking dinner at the Burlington the other night. A very well behaved infant, not crying, just snoozing, while the adults tucked into three courses of rather good food. On a midweek night, just three weeks after it opened, the Burlington was packed.

For decades this site was occupied by an old-fashioned, local-hero kind of place called Christian's, and an eccentric Belgian chef kept the Grove Park regulars fed and watered from a trad bistro menu. Now Redmond and Pippa Hayward (who run Redmond's just across the Thames in downtown Sheen) have taken over.

Perhaps the perfect definition of a local restaurant is where a good proportion of the customers have arrived on foot - and you can tell it's a really good local when they have to go home by taxi.

The Burlington hits that spot. The refurb isn't aggressively designery, but the newly painted room looks clean and fresh. There are 40 or so seats in the main dining room, bolstered by a few tables in a kind of conservatory out the back, and an area of pavement in front of the restaurant will take a few outdoor tables when summer arrives. The service is friendly and efficient, and the wine list is a model of its type - 50 bins, a quarter under £20, a quarter over £35, the rest somewhere in between, with some decent house wines at under £15.

The food is very good - strong flavours, quality ingredients, well presented. Good prices, too. Most starters range from under £4 to £7, and mains from £9.50 to £13.

The king of the starters is the Burlington platter, which is like a one-plate antipasti trolley - a terrific salt cod brandade, creamy celeriac remoulade (could do with a bit more mustard), slow roast belly pork, a coffee cup of soup (mushroom and rosemary with a belt of truffle oil), duck liver parfait, gravadlax. Really simple. Really excellent.

Also on offer is a salad of artichokes and green beans with wild mushrooms and hazelnut dressing; and a pea, mint and red onion risotto with shaved Parmesan - a grand texture and the creaminess cut by a good belt of mint.

Mains range from pan-fried bream fillet with a fennel and orange salad, new potatoes and tarragon sauce, to a grandstand dish such as roast marinated pigeon breasts, soft thyme polenta, black pudding, caramelised endive, seared foie gras and Port jus - a very good, very rich combo. Hayward has a knack for bringing out light, bright herbal flavours - the thyme polenta is just stunning.

Puds are stalwart - dark chocolate tart with rosemary and caramel ice cream, or rhubarb and strawberry fool with stem-ginger ice cream. Dishes here carry off the rare trick of being interesting and simple at one and the same time and, given the reasonable prices, the only problem will be getting a table.