Near to Finchley Central station, this establishment is very much a café: rather boxy, very brightly lit and with the tables set a little too close to one another. The owners try to lift the ambience with vases of flowers on each table (yet don’t necessarily ensure the blooms are alive and unbroken). Service is very courteous and attentive – possibly overly so.
Communication can be a problem, as one young waiter with halting English misunderstood our order, so we had to cancel one dish when another that we’d already decided against turned up on its own. And when what seemed to be the senior waiter was asked for the names of the herbs in the dishes, he admitted to having absolutely no idea. The food, though, was very good and the menu surprisingly extensive and interesting.
DIY minced eel wraps, rich in those mysterious herbs, were a delight, and duck curry in a clay pot was quite delicious. One little touch that did impress was the prompt and unbidden arrival of glasses of iced tap water as we were seated – a practice that other restaurants would do well to copy.