Cow has talent, but no space

The first-floor dining room of THE COW pub in Notting Hill Gate has absolutely no antecedents in banking - busaba eathai was formerly a natwest bankmoney - unless you view the ownership by Tom Conran, son of Sir Terence, as gilt-edged stock. Two other very bankable names have recently joined; Jon Spiteri from The French House and St John as manager, Juliet Peston from Alastair Little, Soho and Lola's in Islington as head chef. Expansion is apparently on the cards but, for the moment, there is an unusual cluster of talent in a small space.

The clustering of tables of various size means that you must be fond of your fellow man but at least in Notting Hill he comes in wide variety and diverting dress. Francis Bacon and Patrick Caulfield prints decorate the walls.

The menu changes daily but should it feature the first course of foie gras terrine with sliced duck breast and French beans on the day you visit, then choose it. It was a fabulous terrine, rough and ready, quite unlike the smooth pastes that usually go under the name. Sweet-potato soup with creme fraiche and spots of fresh black truffle was very pleasant but not so startlingly good. Wrapping baked salsify in Parma ham and then filo pastry is not the best way to celebrate the subtle, fugitive flavour of that vegetable.

In the main course, the lamb tagine with couscous was excellent and the roast fillet of beef with chips, bearnaise sauce and Caesar salad was much liked by my two companions (it is served for two). Last week, The Week of the Potato, or some such thing, drew attention to the use of frozen chips in quite ambitious restaurants. Gary Rhodes was discovered taking advantage of their convenience in his eponymous restaurants in Manchester and Edinburgh. I just want to say that if there is a National Potato Week prize, it should go to Juliet Peston's chips which were everything a chip should be including fresh and hand-cut. For dessert we shared Seville-orange ice-cream served on chocolate shortbread. Pieces of the orange rind would have been a nice inclusion but the zingy flavour was there. Other options were rhubarb and pistachio trifle and hot chocolate mousse cake with espresso granita; more than usually tempting.

Service is somewhat erratic and literally hard-pushed to negotiate the crowded room but it is well meaning.

The Cow
Westbourne Park Road, London, W2 5QH