Gary's towering ambition

His latest catering venture for Restaurant Associates is RHODES TWENTY FOUR - an age he saw 19 years ago, but has reference to the 24th floor of Tower 42 in the City.

This restaurant 342 feet up with a stunning view was previously run by Roux Fine Dining. Our Gary has revamped the look, leaving it fairly anodyne and garishly lit, and introduced a theme of British food - the press release actually uses the ghastly phrase "Very British Fayre" - to the menu.

Since his first steps on the road to stardom at The Castle Hotel in Taunton, where prime local produce informed his cooking, Rhodes has championed traditional British dishes.

Braised oxtail and leg of mutton with caper sauce did not stand in the way of his being awarded his first Michelin star there.

Following current fashion, his dishes on the menu at Twenty Four are titled by the main ingredient and then described. For example, first courses we tried included DUCK - duck terrine with a chicory and shallot Béarnaise relish (served for two), MACKEREL - potted mackerel and gooseberry jelly, warm mackerel fillet, potato salad, and GLOBE ARTICHOKE - artichoke bottom, chopped wild mushrooms, poached egg, Hollandaise sauce.

The terrine under a thick layer of jelly was hearty. "Good pub food," remarked the chap who shared it with me. Rick Stein, who was eating with us, said the mackerel was "quite nice stuff ". The lady who got the artichoke loved it.

Rhodes's oxtail here appears as a first course of braised oxtail cottage pie and his mutton as a main course of steamed mutton and onion suet pudding with buttered carrots.

It is all pretty hefty stuff seemingly aimed - with some justification - at a male customer base. Seeing the most expensive dish of fillets of Dover sole with sautéed snails and shrimps and Jerusalem artichoke purée priced at £31.50, I asked Rick Stein what he charged for Dover sole in Padstow. He said £26.

Other prices are not so alarming, although the uninspired wine list jacks them up. There's a certain mechanical quality-to the cooking, as if the dishes have been conceived to flesh out a theme, which, in a way, they have.

The feature that impressed me most was the view of Norman Foster's "Gherkin" rearing up not far from the windows. Architecturally speaking, I'd rather be in Twenty Four looking out. Gastronomically, we'll have to wait to see what they cook up at the Swiss Re headquarters.

Rhodes Twenty Four
24th floor, Tower-42, 25 Old Broad Street, EC2N 1HQ