Avista W1

Handy for Mayfair business meetings, a relaunch of the somewhat anonymous hotel dining room formerly occupied by Brian Turner; its Italian cuisine, from an ex-Zafferano chef, has been notably improved by the change of régime.

Tempting as it is to be nice to the departed, it’s very difficult to say that ‘Brian Turner at the Millennium’ will be sadly missed. It was always a terrible restaurant, presumably dependent for its survival on hotel guests, and the TV celebrity of the eponymous chef. Nothing became it as much as the brilliant pre-recessionary timing of its departure.

Now this Mayfair space – part of an hotel, but with its own access from Grosvenor Square – has been revamped, and is home to Michele Granziera, who used to cook at the celebrated (but declining) Belgravia Italian, Zafferano.

First impression is that the space itself is somewhat improved, even if the faux-rustic bare-brick wall at one end just succeeds in looking very faux. And bricks and Muzak are rarely a happy combination anyway. On the plus side, this is a comfortable and well-spaced, if rather anonymous, sort of place, which would well suit the less smart sort of Mayfair business meeting.

Given the almost inevitable impersonality of an establishment such as this, we were pleasantly surprised by the cooking. Bread (especially the foccacia) was dangerously more-ish, pasta was very competent, and a red mullet special of the day was pretty well done too.

We also enjoyed the taste of our chocolate-in-chocolate-sauce dessert too, and its appearance was certainly memorable – for the rest of time, we will identify this establishment in our own minds as “the turd pudding restaurant”.