Blueberries

Head East to leafy Victoria Park and you will find an intimate, friendly restaurant with a real neighbourly feel. Fusing comfort with modern design the dining room combines bare brick walls with uber-modern leather seating, reclaimed fireplaces and blond wood floorboards with chrome and clean lines. Not only that but an outdoor seating area makes a perfect setting for a summery lunch.

With an emphasis on good food, Blueberries ensures that their ingredients are as fresh as they come and as local as possible. The small but seasonable menus reflect that fresh theme with a simple, British feel with Mediterranean twists - expect your steaks accompanied by fresh tomatoes and mushrooms and fish dishes to come with a light, delicious salad. And expect the ingredients to be traceable.

Naturally the day starts with breakfast, the flagship of which is the full English. Vegetarians are sometime a bit neglected at breakfast, but Blueberries positively smiles upon them to the extent of veggie sausages, salmon and scrambled eggs and the ever popular eggs Benedict.

Breakfast might just be relaxed, but not lunch which is designed for speed of service, with baguettes, pasta salad, baked potatoes and a simple dessert of time permits. Yes there are choices but the assumption is the fewer the better.

By the time thoughts turn to dinner and the lights dim a five choice starter list commands attention, with the soup of the day and rustic crusty bread leading the way. One day somebody will write a history of the development of soup from the often turgid and always apocryphal Brown Windsor with more than a whiff of cabbage water to its pedigree, but nowadays soup can be very, very good, and should not be lightly ignored. In summer a fan of melon served with Parma ham seems a good choice, or perhaps the King prawns wrapped in filo pastry and served with a sweet chilli sauce.

The menu may be modern but it does not hesitate to call upon the traditional, witness the steak and ale pie topped with a puffed pastry lid, accompanied by sautéed potatoes and glazed vegetables. Another old British favourite is the homemade fish pie, well rounded off with a mature Cheddar and chive mash and served with rustic crusty bread. No good restaurant, whatever its cuisine, can do without at least one dish from Italy and at Blueberries look for the spaghetti and homemade, locally sourced lamb meat balls served with garlic bread and topped off with shaved parmesan. 

Desserts change regularly and your waiter will advise, but rest assured they are compulsive and people have been know to find it very difficult to make a choice. A wine list of distinction is relatively short but packs a punch that should satisfy the average diner very well. There is little straying over the £20 benchmark. Those who like a pint of the best somewhere along the line could not do much better than London Pride bitter.

They are not slow to pick up on the special days like Valentine's, and for details of those and menu additions, a quick click on their Website will reveal all.