Epicurean Pizza Lounge EC1

We’d always wanted to visit this trendy Clerkenwell eating place-cum-cocktail bar. It opened to raves (in some quarters) a couple of years back, and subsequently there was even talk of expansion. Then it unexpectedly bit the dust.

Well, these rather intriguingly long and thin premises are now open again. They were, however, totally deserted the sunny Friday lunchtime we visited. Maybe it’s because the place is on the wrong side of the Clerkenwell Road for lunchtime trade? Or perhaps it’s because the formula is a bit odd? The menu certainly reads strangely. Its backbone is Spanish, but incorporates a range of kebabas, with the house speciality being pizza from a wood-burning oven. To add to this feeling of dislocation, the staff are not the young/cool Hispano-Italian Clerkenwell types you might expect, but solidly English and of relatively mature years.

When the food arrived, however, it was better than the menu had led us to expect. Starters such as guacamole, and deep fried squid were done competently. We lacked the appetite to order the house-speciality pizza (complete with a steak), but the more standard-issue number we went for was done very well (if not quite crispy enough for our personal taste). And a wonderfully sweet and stodgy fritter proved very more-ish – or should that be Moorish? Coffee was good too (plus our bonus point for hot milk),

The management tell us that the place is busy by night (especially later in the week). And – doing our best to put ourselves into the trainers of hip Clerkenwell types – we can certainly see how, before a night on the tiles, this would make a fine place to refuel, and reasonably inexpensive too.