Doing the time warp with Q

My predecessor in this job - so far back in the mists of time that a fresh vegetable in a restaurant was a thing to exclaim over - was the late Quentin Crewe. About him it is said that he invented the role of modern restaurant critic. Certainly none has surpassed him in elegance, perception and dry humour.

After Quentin stopped writing for this paper he published a monthly news letter, QC Private File, and then, in 1980, with Hugh O'Neill, opened Brasserie St Quentin on the site of what had been the Brompton Grill, which had opened in 1945 and become a rather grand, stately restaurant which maintained standards of formal dependability.

Brasserie St Quentin was bought by The Savoy in 1989 and then later sold on to Groupe Chez Gerard . Happily, Hugh O'Neill, with the help of some friends, has been able to re-acquire the restaurant. The renewed BRASSERIE ST QUENTIN opened a few weeks ago with the stated aim of becoming a congenial asset to its Knightsbridge neighbourhood.

Appalled by the way restaurant prices in London have escalated, O'Neill is trying to offer exceptional value and, to this end, lists first courses from £4.20 (leeks vinaigrette), main courses from £7.80 (linguine with garlic, tomatoes and coriander) and includes about 30 petits vins at less than £20 a bottle on the wine list. Tablecloths have returned to the tables, and in the kitchen is chef Nana Yaw Nitri-Akuffo, who was previously working as sous-chef to Anton Edelman at The Savoy.

The comfortable banquette seating, chandeliers and pink-tinted mirrors from Brompton Grill days remain in place. Successfully conveyed is the pleasant notion that you could eat here routinely. Indeed, the evening we visited there was a fairly brisk turnover of tables, as befits a brasserie.

We put first courses to the test with the salad of leeks, soupe de poissons - a good measure of a kitchen, said one of my companions - and feuilletÈ d'escargots ? la crëme d'ail. The snails arrived under a dome of flaky pastry kept up entirely by hot air (does this remind you of something?) bathed in a creamy sauce enlivened with finely diced vegetables.

It was excellent, a grand hotel dish. The leeks had too much leafy garnish of a frilly kind but a nice sweetish dressing; the soup, similar to the superior sort sold in jars, came with croutons and a'oli but no grated cheese, a minus point in the view of its recipient.

A general agreement that we all liked the red wines of south-west France and, as an example (not in its strongest vintage), the Ch?teau du Cedre 1998 from Cahors at £17.50, made meat the basis of the chosen main courses in the shape of roast chump of lamb, grilled rib-eye of beef, and seared veal kidneys and sweetbreads in a grain mustard sauce.

A garnish of white haricot beans with both the lamb and steak supported the regional approach, but while the steak was fine, the lamb was served as a heap of slices in a rusty sauce (coloured and flavoured by chorizo) looking a bit like Spanish school dinner. The offal was great.

Cheeses of the day are priced, as are all puddings, at £4.50. The three examples presented in cling-film wrap were so unalluring we gave up the idea of finishing the wine with cheese. This was the low point of the meal and coming, as it does, at the end, not tactically a clever one. However, it is good to see the great restaurant critic's shrine back in action in a way that, for the most part, he would have very much appreciated.

Top Fives: Long-runners

Brasserie St Quentin
243 Brompton Road, SW3 2EP