Cadbury's superior pub grub

When Longshot Ltd, the restaurant club and pub company headed by Joel Cadbury, relaunched The Admiral Codrington, Stephen Terry was the surprisingly illustrious chef leading the pub's kitchen brigade. Then, rather quickly, Terry popped up back at Coast, the Albemarle Street restaurant where he first made his gastronomic statement after falling out of love with the style of cooking favoured by the Michelin guide.

What some might view as another long shot is the presence of Charlie Rushton as executive chef of Joel Cadbury's latest venture, The Salisbury Tavern in Fulham. Rushton has worked many years with Marco Pierre White and was latterly head chef of The Mirabelle. The menu at The Salisbury Tavern has some memories of The Mirabelle which might strike you either as a fantastic opportunity to eat apparently fancy food quite plainly priced or result in a response like that from one of my companions: "This is not the sort of place where I'd want to eat truffled parsley soup."

"The sort of place" is a huge pub divided by the bar into drinking area and dining area which has filled up as quickly as you can say Jack Robinson - or perhaps Joel Cadbury - with baying Sloanes. The interior design masterminded by Nina Campbell, featuring attractive tapestry-like upholstery on the banquettes that line the restaurant part, makes them feel immediately at home. Friendly, jolly staff - some more friendly than effective - complete the picture. I dare say that if, God forbid, one lived in SW6, The Salisbury Tavern would be a welcome addition to the area.

Four of us were able to put the menu to a thorough test. Marco-stamped dishes such as parfait of foie gras and chicken livers or fillet of cod "Viennoise" are interspersed with simpler assemblies such as Caesar salad and hake and chips. It is notionally the formula that Le Caprice perfected, complete with dishes of the day given in the margin, some of their quotidian quality here diluted by the fact that the descriptions are printed. Outstanding among the first courses was gnocchi served with roasted artichokes and nicely fatty Serrano ham. The texture and flavour of the little dumplings was faultless, something tricky to achieve in the environment of a frantic pub kitchen. Crab ravioli with julienne of vegetables was also high-class stuff, but my strapping son, who ordered the same item as a main course, was shocked to find that spending an extra £2.20 still resulted in only one raviolo being served, even if it was marginally bigger in circumference. He had a side order of chips.

Cod Viennoise with a herb crust and a tomato-and-mushroom sauce arrived firmly baked onto an extremely hot plate. Somehow the texture of the fish had not suffered. Calves' liver with bacon and sage and onion mash and fresh crab and avocado salad were both satisfactory dishes. Homemade chocolate ice-cream was the one dessert tried. A £2 supplement on the £4.50 dessert price brings chocolate orgasm. Maltesers, a confection that most certainly does not make the earth move for me, are served in a glass at the end of the meal. Were I a chef it would not be how I wanted my meals to climax, but apparently the Cadbury crowd simply loves them.

The Salisbury Tavern
21 Sherbrooke Road, SW6 7HX