Shrimpy's (CLOSED)

This unusually located place (in a disused filling station just north of King’s Cross) was a sensation when it opened in 2012. Word of mouth left thousands gasping for one of the trademark soft-shell crab burgers – and unable to get a table. A year on, bagging a table was dead easy at lunchtime. And our meal made us wonder what all the fuss had been about. There was some pleasing cooking: a bracingly acidic chicory ’slaw with pomegranate, and a boldly spiced hash made with shin of beef. But some food was simply inert. Prawn fritters had a woollen texture within, no crunch without, and vanishingly small prawn content. The real shock came with that famous crab burger: ours was simply crunchy batter with a vaguely marine taste, given most of its character by chilli sauce and dwarfed by a pillow-sized (and tasteless) soft roll. Shrimpy’s is due to shuffle off in 2014, when the site is redeveloped. It’s a shame we’ll be deprived of such a nice-looking venue, but the gastronomic loss is nothing to lose sleep over.