(Too) Great expectations

THIS intimate, pleasantly claustraphobic restaurant, tucked away almost in a neat fold in the city-centre street’s edifice, is on the Michelin recommended list so the bar is set reasonably high the very moment a booking is made.

It is a moot point whether this works in the restaurant’s favour or not. In circumstances like these, it’s so easy to be disappointed if you have expectations on a par with the high-calorie palaver surrounding so many of these gongs-for-grub promotion schemes.

The thrill of being utterly surprised by something wonderful and unknown is denied too. And if you find the emperor has no clothes, or maybe just greasy, shabby ones, then you can be left wondering if you need to reassess the criteria you use to form an opinion about any restaurant. Not only is your enjoyment of the meal undermined so too is your idea of what represents good food.