Brickhouse Restaurant, The

If you want to launch a new restaurant perhaps nowhere better to do it than the inside of a formerly famous brewery - the 18th century Old Truman Brewery in East London's Brick Lane to be more exact.

Within this challenging setting has been created a floor to ceiling performance space, with a large bar and open plan kitchen. Two mezzanine levels offer further seating and a private dining room commanding the best views in the house. There is even an area where beds are provided for those looking for something rather different.

Head Chef Matthew Reuther, formerly of Michelin starred 1 Lombard Street and Foliage, offers a menu that is designed to meet all reasonable tastes, possibly even some unreasonable ones as well. Starters of mackerel mousse with pumpernickel, horseradish and beetroot salad, or venison carpaccio with Parmesan, light garlic mayonnaise and truffle oil set a good standard at the outset.

Main courses pick up the baton with pave of beef with confit parsnip red wine jus and grain mustard ice cream, or perfectly pan fried duck breast topped with roast figs and a side of pont neuf.

Warm Eccles cakes with Stilton ice cream, or spiced apple Eton Mess with sesame tuille round the meal off with a certain elegance. A wine list is assessed in true hedonistic manner under headings of good, great and gorgeous, but a bottle of Krug Grande Cuvée NV is in a class of its own.

A six course grazing menu is available in the evenings. The entertainment is wall to wall, varied and designed to complement enjoyment of the outstanding cuisine.