Percy & Founders

I had high hopes for this Fitzrovia restaurant and bar, having had a cracking couple of meals at two of its sister sites, the Thomas Cubitt in Belgravia and The Orange in Pimlico. Percy & Founders suffers in comparison, but there's still much to like.

First impressions were great: it’s a smart, expensive-­looking room with service that was, on our visit, super slick and friendly. Both of our starters were corkers: crab salad was light, fresh and packed with sweet crabby flavour; cured trout benefited from some delicious pumpernickel. A diet margarita mocktail was great, too.

Elsewhere, though, the cooking isn’t as well-­executed, meaning there’s little to justify prices that ought to guarantee consistency. Charred squid was disappointingly under­seasoned, and the spatchcock chicken let down by deflating, limp chimichurri.

A return-­to-­form dessert of madeleines with maple butter took a while to come, so we had time to take a proper look around. An older crowd, a classy room and an easy-­going formality made us think it’d be a good place to impress the in-­laws. Get them to pick up the bill though, eh?