Bumpkin SW7

In South Kensington, a pleasant and well-spaced country-kitchen-style English bistro, offering no-nonsense food at prices which, at lunch, are notably sensible; service on our visit, though pleasant, was very slow.

You feel they really ought to be cooking on an AGA, at this country kitchen-style bistro, on the site of the former Abbaye restaurant in South Kensington.

The food is entirely in keeping with the setting - resolutely English, which, for our tastes, makes it more suited to lunch than dinner. And if you go in the middle of the day, as we did, you can enjoy a 2-course set menu, offering the sort of simple comforting fare you might get from mum, for just £12. The price includes some good rustic bread, apparently made on the premises.

Service is jolly, though on our visit was inexplicably slow Perhaps they really are trying to cook it all on an AGA? The delay was all the more difficult to comprehend as we effectively ordered soup (cauliflower) followed by soup, the waitress having failed to point out that, although the main course was described as stew, it was in fact much more like a soup with solid bits in it than a stew in the usual, rich English sense.

If you have plenty of time, though, this is still a nicely warming destination on a cold day.