Baku - review

Baku, the restaurant named after the capital of Azerbaijan, recently launched in Sloane Street on a site that has seen Alain Ducasse, Jamie Oliver, Ian Pengelley and Bjorn van der Horst - the last two working with Gordon Ramsay Holdings - come and go. It is backed by United Enterprises International (UEI), dedicated to promoting Azer-baijani products internationally.

Money has been spent on the decor more successfully in the seductive second-floor bar than in the lifeless first-floor dining room which brings to mind those palaces revealed to the wider world after the downfall of despots. It is in a different league to Azeri in Edgware Road and Azerbaijan in North Finchley, the only other Azerbaijani restaurants in London I know.

The welcome at ground level is delightful, warm and hospitable. In the upstairs restaurant general manager Philippe Moreau is an old acquaintance from the days when he worked for Pierre Martin at Le Suquet and so the warmth carries on. Moreau says the head chef is King Dey, who has worked for the Vama group of Indian restaurants and at L'Etranger. He can be seen in the tiled open kitchen, which sports a tandoor and grill but seems bereft of anything much else connected with food - like ingredients.

The menu is presented on an iPad, all very modern and casting an eerie glow on customers' faces but being able to view just one section at a time makes it hard to choose a meal. We turn to the printed list. The choices are, I would venture, undeniably Azerbaijani - caviar included - but not impenetrable to anyone who has eaten in a Turkish or Iranian restaurant. Prices are high, which sort of goes with this Sloaney territory, but portions are tiny. Perhaps that is thought to be sophisticated.

As seems unavoidable these days, the concept of sharing dishes is impressed upon us as a daring and revelatory approach - even though it should be natural to this cuisine. But three of us have to divvy up two tiny gutab, a delicate fried pasty filled with minced lamb, just manage a smear each of a chilly aubergine-based mangal salad, and clash knives over pashtet, a chicken liver parfait. Delicious flat bread, hot from the tandoor, provides some ballast.

From the section entitled To Share From the Tandir, minimum two persons, we choose Chicken Lavangi with walnut stuffing. For £27.50 this turns out be a poussin smaller than an adult's fist, where the lack of flavour for which such birds are notorious finds no compensation in bitter minced walnuts. Piti, "a must-try Azerbaijani lamb stew", at £18.50 contains fatty meat bulked out with chickpeas. Choban salad at £8.50 is the sort of mix of chopped tomato, onion and cucumber often provided as garnish for grills in Indian restaurants and is served in roughly that quantity. Scrutinising our bill, I wished we had tried the side dish of shuyud plov (rice with dill) for which we were charged (only £4.50) although it wasn't ordered or received. To be fair, a couple of extra items were "gifted" but since we didn't pay for them, I won't comment. The dessert of pomegranate and rose soufflé was tart and very pretty.

The city of Baku is twinned with Bordeaux. Maybe with help from vignerons from the latter, Azerbaijani wines - in particular the reds - could become contenders. Fruit-infused spirits and the tapas menu offered in the bar is my advice for the way to go. Also, Eddie Izzard to be compere for the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku May 2012 and tireless Azerbaijan enthusiast Philippe Moreau made Honorary Consul.

Baku
164 Sloane Street, SW1