Rise of the deli diner

Comptoir Gascon, which was the traiteur arm of the restaurant Club Gascon and the wine bar Cellar Gascon, is now a bistro, and what a wonderful bistro it is. Until you sit in - as opposed to shop in - a space, you don't experience the decorative impact.

Here, in a lofty interior, presumably once an industrial outlet allied to Smithfield meat market, cement finishes have been glazed or waxed a honey colour, wines are arrayed in wooden bookshelves, a ham wrapped in a muslin nappy to catch the drips is spot-lit hanging from a rail alongside garlands of dusky chillies, and cheeses and patisserie in illuminated, glass-fronted cabinets make alluring suggestions about how you might finish a meal. The on-site bakery also displays its crusty wares.

As at Club Gascon, south-west France is the terroir addressed in the cooking, but here dishes are hearty rather than refined or made fanciful. From a short list rather embarrassingly entitled Humble Beginnings to Share we chose "Piggy treats" and steamed oysters (3) and crepinettes. We also added in from the "Vegetal" section omelette piperade, autumn truffle aligot and sautéed seasonal mushrooms.

The many uses to which a pig can be put included slices of andouillette, salamis, black pudding and also strips of braised pig's ears with the sort of crunchy texture that is much prized in Chinese cooking.

Cold oysters with sausages (here wrapped in caul fat) is a Bordelais tradition where hot, spicy mouthfuls act as a chaser for cold, salty ones. An excellent theory and practice.

Piperade seems to me the best, possibly the only, use to which peppers can be put. Skinned, sautéed and softened with onions in olive oil they lose their metallic edge and submit graciously to a cloak of egg. With eggs scrambled in, they are served as a side dish of piperade Basquaise.

What Richard Olney refers to as "the homely pleasure of aligot" lies in the smoothness of a potato purée given an elastic quality by the inclusion of melted Cantal cheese. Flavoured, but made an unappealing dun colour by truffles, it was a substance that my companion Dee returned to throughout the meal until she was satisfied that not a scrap adhered to the bottom of the dish.

In the main courses (Mer and Terre) we tried poulet grand-mère des Landes, which was slightly compromised by being a poussin grandmère, and onglet, that tasty cut of steak that must be cooked rare to avoid toughness, served in a rather Marmitey sauce Bordelaise. There is a blackboard list of dishes of the day; too late I noticed fricassée of barbequed ducks' hearts.

The selection of regional cheeses was excellent and a reason to order more Madiran Laffitte Teston at £20 a bottle/£5 a glass. Prices of the south-western wines, including an array of sweet ones, are moderate and leap no further than £29.

Handsome and helpful young male staff complete the picture of a place to which my husband, Reg, gave his highest praise: "I wish somewhere exactly like this would open near to where we live."

Comptoir Gascon
61-63 Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ