Jan Moir Are You Ready To Order

Chef Paul Merrony has done a really smart thing. He has moved into an old Indian restaurant on London’s decrepit Tin Pan Alley and spent zip on it. Sixpence at the very most. Including VAT. Inside the room, the fixtures and fittings groan with the ghosts of repasts past. Merrony still serves food and drinks on the old curry house crockery and glassware used by the previous owners, and maybe even the owners before that. There are thin, tin chafing dishes that have seen the radioactive underside of a thousand chicken tikka masalas. Wine is served in those depressing small-bowl glasses with the measure etched on the side – and never breached! Yet none of this really matters. What is important is that this Australian chef, a big name in the Sydney restaurant scene throughout the Nineties, is cooking up a storm in the tiny kitchen – he claims it is the smallest in London – and keeping the prices down. This is excellent, considering the degree of care and down home talent that goes into producing nosh-some dishes such as rich chicken liver and juniper pate; fishcakes with tartare sauce; roast chicken and roast potatoes with garlic for two; and ham hock hash with a fried egg. Indeed, there is a lot of hearty egg action, which suits old boilers like me right down to the ground. There is also an interesting selection of vegetarian dishes, including pumpkin risotto with oregano and mascarpone; eggs baked with spinach, cheese and cream; plus lots of good salads. Of course the best thing is that all the main courses are under £14 and the quality is excellent. There is even a bit of luxe. How about a starter of pan-fried foie gras? It is terrific; cooked to the minute with a lovely glaze, and served majestically on a haystack of extra fine French beans and frizee lettuce, both anointed with a classic, artful dressing. It is melting, delicious and all yours for £9.50. It is notable that this simple dish is better than the foie gras preparation S had at Helene Darroze at the Connaught the other week. And Merrony cleaned it properly, unlike the slapdash two Michelin star madame!

Another starter we try is listed on the menu as Boneless (Almost!) & Crisped Pigs Trotters; Egg Mayonnaise Carpaccio. Egg mayo carp? How can that work? It doesn’t, to be honest. A fried square of reconstituted trotter meat sits on top of a salad of frisee and rather wan parsley scattered with croutons and a boiled egg cut in half. That’s it! That ‘Almost’ must be included to excuse the hunks of bone in the trotter meat which, by unhappy accident, are about the same size as the croutons. The meat itself is sweet and pleasant, but we are unsure about this egg and trotter texture combination. However, it is a minor complaint.

Raising the steaks

Among its main courses, the Giaconda Dining Room serves beef rib for its steak and chips, which shows a bit of class and aforethought. A thick slice comes charred medium rare, with the meat juices just starting to seep through the top. ‘Look,’ says S, pointing to his tomato. ‘It’s been sliced with a razor sharp knife, not all puckered and bruised like they usually are.’ His eye for detail never fails to astound. The steak and its pile of perfect chips – everyone’s favourite – comes with a nicely tossed mixed salad. Also placed on the table: a jumbo jar of Dijon mustard. All this is a feast fit for a king – for only £14.

This is royally good news, especially as good, reasonably priced restaurants are hard to find in London. And getting harder by the minute. This year, the August slump is slumpier than the blueberries in a blueberry slump. Fish are jumping (in cost) and the cotton is high (on the price index). Food prices increased by 13.7% in July, compared to the same month last year. Perhaps it is hardly surprising that restaurant bills continue to astound, but it still hurts like hell. A sinewy chateaubriand of underwhelming size was £68 at Tom’s Kitchen last week. £68! Or £85, if you include service. Can a farmer even sell a whole cow for that? Recently the same dish (for two) was on the menu at £55, so it still exceeds the reported 16.3% hike in meat prices. Autumn is going to be chillier for everyone, in more ways than one.

The GDR’s puddings lean towards the hearty and home cooked. An iced nougat served with fresh raspberries with a raspberry sauce is nicely done in this sweet little restaurant in an unremarkable side street. The wine list represents excellent value with over 75% of wines in the £20 bracket, even if the very top end of the list holds the real bargains: a Puligny-Montrachet at £37, for example. It hardly matters who made it, at that price. With this meal we have a Marcillac (£21), which has lovely, earthy flavours of south west France. It is only fair to point out, perhaps, that the same bottle is £2 cheaper at Tom’s Kitchen. Swings, roundabouts and the great slide of the economy; these are the topics that dominate the restaurant playground today.

Meanwhile, the Giaconda is insider heaven; an uptown gourmet experience in a downtown shack. It takes a big man with a big heart and enormous foresight to put out such terrific quality food at such small prices. Paul Merrony is that man. If he carries on in this vein, he’s really on to something big, big, big.

• The Giaconda Dining Room, 9 Denmark Street, London WC2H 8LS. Tel: 020 7240 3334. Three course meal for two, excluding drinks and service, £45. Cover charge, £1 each.