If you took the best elements of a countryside restaurant - the warmth and the breezy calm and clever simplicity of the seasonal cooking - and teleported them into the city then you would probably end up with something not far away from Pissarro.

It helps that the restaurant sits on the banks of the Thames, way out west in Chiswick, away from the metal and concrete of zone 1 and 2. But there's more to it than that. The kitchen is open and inviting; the service patient and wise. There's even a cotton-wool-white cat from next door, sniffing around for flesh to eat or to touch.

And the food? Well, that's good too. The menu, which features eight starters and 10 mains, is mostly modern European, albeit with a regal nod to English sensibilities. When we visited the meats were roasted or char-grilled and fish pan fried - that's what the well-heeled, slightly older clientele want - but there were plenty of vegetable dishes that made creative use of seasonal ingredients too.

After a complimentary helping of oven-fresh bread and a pot of mixed olives, I decided to start with the buffalo mozzarella with roast pumpkin, figs, rocket and basil pistou, which worked perfectly - the spikiness of the basil enough to counteract the sweetness of the mozzarella, pumpkin and figs. My partner's dish - a dandelion salad with Jerusalem artichokes, roast beetroot, muscatel dressing and a poached egg - wasn't far behind either, the bitterness of the dandelion being smartly lassoed in by the dressing.

My main - an open lasagne of butternut squash, shallot puree, spinach and Morbier cheese - kept up the high standard. Too often lasagnes sit in the stomach like a brick, but this one got the balance of cream and lightness just right. Less successful - and the only bum note on the night - was my partner's butter bean ragout with artichoke, pumpkin, courgettes and sheep's ricotta. Considering all the inventiveness of the rest of the menu, the dish was strangely dull; it came altogether too close to eating posh baked beans with a dollop of ricotta on top.

And the deserts? They were well above standard too, particularly the excellent chocolate feuillitine with raspberries. The pear and apple crumble with nut crunch and cinnamon ice cream wasn't quite as good however; the nut crunch was just right, but the fruits were a little over-subdued by sugar to make their mark.

Still, there was nothing poor here: and the majority of dishes we tried were very good indeed. At the end of a very enjoyable night, our bill - including an excellent bottle of gewurtstraminer - came to a shade under £70. We will certainly be back.