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Restaurant Balzac

Not for Balzac the school of plating fish with nothing more than salt or a drizzle of oil. Dishes here justify their place on the menu with deft saucing and accomplished accompaniments. Try the sweetbreads (their kataifi pastry wrapping perhaps a bridge too far) with seven-hour braised veal, or, for something lighter, a ‘cassoulet’ of tender squid with haricot beans and diced chorizo. Blue-eye ‘Rossini’ is a gutsy take on a meaty fish, the fillets wrapped with foie gras and preserved truffle in cavolo nero, napped with a dense sauce Périgueux and some excellent bits of crisp-fried fish skin. Sides such as Sebago taties roasted in dripping with garlic and thyme can’t be missed, and desserts are increasingly impressive, if the zest-laden gratin of plums with Champagne and vanilla sorbet is any guide. Service and wine are friendly and unpretentious, and the bang-for-buck, as ever, is hard to beat.