London,

Spud

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26 New Row, WC2N

Opening hours: Mon-Fri 8-11pm; Sat/Sun 11am-11pm

Cuisine: Other

Average price: Around £13 for two jacket potatoes with drinks

Jacket fits: the lunch-hour office set are the main target for new Covent Garden café Spud

Spud wants to bestow on jacket potatoes what no one has yet done, or done well at least: gourmet status.

The tiny café has the earthy, lived-in feel of a local market stall yet is designed for the hungry throng that passes daily through Covent Garden at the height of the lunch hour.

So midway through a lazy Friday afternoon, we were still able to get seats on two of the miniature Art Deco chairs just inside the door.

Before us, three Soho-ites carried little white takeaway boxes and proper Fentiman's lemonade back to the office while two others shared a delicious-looking mackerel and crème fraîche filling on the tiny stripped-back bench outside (downstairs seating called The Underspud is expected shortly).

A cheerful waitress offered a choice of normal, herb or black peppercorn butter before I'd even started. It was a spud with smoked Boston bean filling for my friend and a Moroccan lamb tagine for me.

The first was excellent. Plump chickpeas, kidney and butterbeans bursting with a full, smoky flavour rested alongside a feisty cheddar in a thick, bubbling smoky sauce. These sat atop a fluffy jacket potato, smothered in deliciously peppery butter with a nice if slightly limp outer skin.

However, the lamb option was almost as good. I delved into a two-inch high mound of plump couscous crumbled over succulent strips of lamb which were well-seasoned and with a hint of chilli, scattered with faintly crunchy pumpkin seeds and roasted red peppers. Fresh tzatziki gave a refreshing lift to the wintriness of the tagine.

By the end of that Moroccan marathon, there was barely room for the tatty itself, and for a place advertising this "champion of veg" it seemed a shame to cover up the very thing we were there to eat. When I finally got to it, the potato had a thick, unburnt though sadly uncrispy skin coating a soft interior.

I suspect Spud will do well in winter, when people go in search of warm cover and hearty fare (not to mention excellent flat whites made with Allpress coffee beans).

But I fear that by smothering their main ingredient - however well-priced and good the gourmet toppings are - it could deter the simple spud lovers among us.

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.