Truffles and treats in Mayfair

One thing undoubtedly true, is that restaurateurs who live in glass restaurants (Plateau) should not throw summer truffles (rather tasteless) at other restaurants.

But having been asked to be a critic and to fill the golden slot of the other domestic goddess, commonly known as Mrs Maschler, it was just too tempting.

This gives me the opportunity to discuss the two vastly different ways in which restaurant food is heading in London.

One direction is epitomised by Fergus Henderson of St John, Clerkenwell, where he cooks wonderful, quality ingredients as simply as possible; the other is defined by people like Heston Blumenthal of Bray, where his molecular chefs concoct extraordinarily complex dishes which make individual ingredients barely recognisable.

The battle between cooks with plain, simple and satisfying food, and chefs whose ambition seems to be to challenge intellectually and stimulate the customer, has never been more exciting.

While both extreme approaches have merit, I must admit to being a plain-and-simple chap myself, who enjoys unpretentious food where the quality of well cooked and delicious ingredients is clearly discernible and eventually satisfying.

But this stylistic confrontation has had an astounding knock-on effect among the establishments that populate the middle ground, which is where this week's two restaurants fall.

The Greenhouse in Mayfair is where Gary Rhodes, famous for drawing our attention to the deliciousness of British food, made his considerable and well deserved reputation. It has now become a very different animal, with the extremely rich and ambitious owner, Marlon Abela, determined to build an international chain of quality restaurants with his chef, Bjorn van der Horst, who has worked for Ducasse and Robouchon.

He has employed charming staff - Jean-Marie Miorada, the manager, who worked for me at Quaglino's for many years, and the sommelier, Matthies Garros, who was so enthusiastic about his amazing list of 2,384 wines that you felt you were on a wine communion course at the Vatican.

There are several varieties of menu: Tasting at £75, A la Carte at £55 and two lunch menus, £32 for three courses or a very reasonable £28 for two. You also get six or seven ingenious amusegueules at the start, middle and end of the meal, which makes lunch a fairly lengthy event, two hours in our case, despite trying to hurry things along.