Two restaurateurs were in touch last week about grouse. One said she was getting hers for £7.50 a bird, the other pointed out that in his restaurant, Brasserie St Quentin, they were brought in " longleg", which means feathers off - plucking in restaurant kitchens is against the regulations - but everything else in and on. This, he wrote, stops them becoming dry, the likely fate of "oven-ready" birds.

I am very fond of Brasserie St Quentin - named after Quentin Crewe, the patron saint of restaurant critics - and a longleg grouse of a Sunday evening seemed an admirable idea. The bird served whole, as it should be, with fried breadcrumbs and game chips was excellent but slightly let down by a travesty of that wonderful British condiment, bread sauce.

Another proud ingredient on the menu is Harlech salt-marsh lamb. The superior flavour due to sheep grazing on salt marshes, nibbling samphire and sea beet, was undermined by presentation of the meat in small, thin, droopy slices. Chef Gary Durrant and his sous- chef trained at The Savoy and there is sometimes a prissy, hotelly aspect in their approach. Brasserie food should be robust. Jerusalem artichoke soup was delicious; celeriac remoulade to accompany prosciutto was hand-cut (not grated), a detail that makes all the difference, and parsley-flecked glazed carrots were a lovely, relatively uncommon, side dish.

On the wine list a section entitled French Country Wines offers good finds such as the 2004 Côtes du Roussillon La Mascarou, Domaine des Chênes at £25.50. Service was amiable and efficient. Prices have risen noticeably which may account for the sparsely populated dining room. Or maybe that was just a function of Sunday.