Telephone: 020 7288 4401
Address: 16 Parkfield Street, London N1
Meal for two, including wine and service, £55.
If there is one incident that sums up the curious service at the Marquee Bar and Grill, it is probably the moment when the waitress asked us whether we wanted pudding or coffee. She was a model of affability. It was just a shame that we hadn't received our main courses yet. Or, come to think of it, our starters. Or our drinks. We'd only been there seven minutes. And now they were trying to move us on and out.
But damn it, I'm made of sterner stuff. They can't get rid of me that easily, which is fortunate because, while the service may be amateur hour without any of the polish, the food rocks, as the young people say. So it should. The Marquee is the Islington re-incarnation of the great sweat-stained music venue that used to sit in London's Soho, and a joint project between Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and Mark Fuller, music and club promoter. Rocking is what these people do. Accordingly, the Bar and Grill is a wide space of wipe-clean floors clearly designed for pre-gig beer swilling, with a few tables and banquettes up front. Fuller also owns the rather smarter restaurant Embassy, and it is the chef from there, the Michelin-capable Garry Hollihead, who is the executive chef here.
His big idea is American diner food - salads and ribs, burgers and sandwiches - done seriously bloody well. The thought of a Michelin-starred chef having a crack at a burger is, I accept, a little worrying. What havoc could be wreaked upon simplicity? It has already happened in New York, where the chef Daniel Boulud introduced a burger stuffed with foie gras and truffles, yours for $27. But Hollihead is smarter than that: he deals only in the essentials.
Pricing is very reasonable. A starter of baby back ribs at £3.50 brought seared, chewy meaty bones and a great pot of sparky barbecue sauce. The classic Caesar salad at £4.95 was a model of its kind. No attempts at reinvention; just good, crisp romaine, the right amount of dressing, thick with anchovy, Parmesan and fine croutons.
Half-pound burgers at £6.50 each are solid slabs of beef, served pink in the middle, with a great toasted bun. Chips are the real McCoy, blanched first and then refried to produce a crisp exterior and soft potato within.
And puddings are lush enough to make your arteries report you to social services for wilful neglect. It is true that the dense chocolate torte didn't really need the thick curls of solid chocolate on top. But then, as nobody needs chocolate torte in the first place, what's the point of haggling over details?
These are all great dishes allowed to display their simple virtues, and the moment the waiters realise that it's quite cool to let the punters stay and eat them, the Marquee Bar and Grill will become a class act.
