The Marquess Tavern N1

There are compensations to being a restaurant critic. One of them is that you have to explore nooks and crannies of the capital you might never otherwise seek out. Canonbury, for example, is a very nice place to get lost in.

Once, with some difficulty, we’d finally located, the subject of this review, its appearance did not disappoint. This is a magnificent Victorian boozer, nicely stripped down (and not then buggered up with any whimsical design clichés of the moment). It’s just painted white, and mainly furnished with Chesterfields.

The menu is short and English. Fennel and cauliflower soup struck a good starting note. A salad of pigeon, mint and peas was also very satisfactory: that bird always seems too bloody or too grey, so the fact that it was perfectly done here speaks well of the kitchen. The recommended pudding was rice pudding with apple jam. Said jam turned out to look remarkably like a sprig of redcurrants, but an enjoyable dish anyway.

We’d rung to check that lunch was being served that day, but it turns out that the more substantial fare is dinner only. Given the pretty consistent standards of everything else, though, we’d be surprised if standards didn’t measure up (as you’d hope with chefs drawn from the Ivy and St John).

This venture is backed by the people behind Green & Red – the impressive Mexican bar/cantina we reviewed in March – and the booze side of the operation here has not been neglected. There are over 40 bottled beers (and the same number of malts), plus an unusual selection of English drinks, including ciders and porter from Greenwich’s Meantime Brewery.

All in all, this looks set to be a really useful addition to the north London scene.