E&O, 14 Blenheim Crescent, London W11 (020 7229 5454). Meal for two, including wine and service, £80
I have claimed in the past that I do not go looking for bad restaurants; that, like car crashes and chest infections, bad restaurants sometimes just happen to me. I would, however, be lying if I tried to claim this about my visit to E&O in London's Notting Hill. It is, on paper, everything that I hate about modern restaurants, including the fact that it's in Notting Hill; there can be no more self-satisfied, auto-fellating, self-consciously hip district of London than this one. If the friendly bombers diverted overhead, en route to Slough, the rest of the capital - of the country - would doubtless applaud.
Worse, E&O is a fashionable restaurant in a fashionable district, frequented by supermodels who exist on Marlboro Lights and the glare of the lens, trustafarians and liggers, pop stars you've never heard of and some you have, and girls with pencilled eyebrows like circumflexes who do something pointless in PR. Worse still, the menu at E&O is pan-Asian. I would rather stick my tongue in a live plug socket than pay my own money for that stuff (which is why I use The Observer's). In short, it is fair to say that when I went to E&O I was attempting to do nothing more than reinforce my prejudices.
It almost hurts, therefore, to have to tell you that the reason it's hard to get a table is that it's good. Not 'you won't believe what I ate last night' amazing. Just good. Yes, there is a noisy bar full of people you would happily herd into a barb-wired enclosure. But the dining room is away from all that and, with its smart use of dark slatted wood panels on the walls and cosy booths, it is a pleasing place to be. The waiters are nice; the prices, while hardly cheap, do not feel like larceny; and the food is sensible. The kitchen clearly understands that if you are going to mix culinary traditions from across Asia, there is an imperative to get the fundamentals right.
So a Japanese tuna tartare, beautifully presented in a bowl made of a solid piece of ice, made a virtue of very fresh fish and the careful application of citrus. And nothing else. Chewy pork spare ribs, in a sweet, dark sauce with a light chilli lift, would not have disgraced the better establishments in Chinatown, and the half of glossy, crispy-skinned duck - which had benefited from long rendering - would have been an ornament to many of them. Black cod in sweet miso, which came apart in fine pearly flakes, was just as good as at Nobu, where the dish was made famous, but required rather less than the Kensington mortgage needed at Nobu to pay for it.
A main-course pad Thai made no efforts to innovate. It was just a good, solid pad Thai. I also liked the Asian greens with their assertive, garlicky kick, and a softer side dish of stir-fried mushrooms on ho fun - flat noodles - which was rich and satisfying. E&O is not, it should be said, the place for puddings. The lemongrass creme brulee proved only that there is no point in adding to a dish which is fine as it is, the flavouring lending a grim medicinal edge. But it is the place for a relaxed dinner and, damn it, I would happily go again. And pay my own money.
· Restaurants Against Hunger week begins 9 October - dozens of restaurants across the country will invite diners to make a donation as they pay the bill. The money helps feed undernourished children around the world. Visit restaurantsagainsthunger.org for participating establishments
