Not many restaurants can boast an accompanying grocer. For all that Simpsons or the Ivy can offer in terms of culinary experiences and Michelin stars, they don’t allow you the possibility of popping next door to get the bread and orange juice for next morning’s breakfast.

When Le Caprice starts a dry cleaning service and Tamarind offers to develop your photos within the hour, I might start popping along more regularly. Until then the Brompton Quarter Brasserie remains unique in terms of what it can offer its diners. The grocers is more like a very small deli, stocked with everyday essentials along with speciality meats and cheeses, reflecting the Mediterranean feel that is also found in the restaurant.

The interior of the restaurant is quite different from your usual London set-up with an open-plan seating arrangement and chandeliers encrusted with wax hanging from the ceiling. The use of glass plated windows is a little perplexing. The benefit of being able to see outside works well when you’re raised high above the ground and able to look out over the capital’s landmarks such as the Thames and the London Eye. However, when all you have to contemplate is the traffic situation on the Brompton Road, the effect is not so rapturous.

However, the point of coming to a restaurant is to eat, not to ponder on London’s congestion problems. My companion and I both started with the mussels, which came with chorizo in white wine and herb sauce (£7.50). The addition of the chorizo worked well and complimented the mussels if not the sauce.

My main course of roasted breast of chicken with chorizo sausage, green beans and sun blushed tomatoes (£15.95) was decent enough without being truly exceptional. To this end, I was left looking enviously as my companion gleefuly tucked into his Cumberland sausage with creamed leeks, rich onion gravy and char-grilled potatoes (£12.50). The small sample I had of the dish left me stewing on the biggest cliché in any diner’s experience.

The meal was rounded off with a bread and butter pudding with vanilla custard and a pistachio ice parfait with plantain bananas, both of which were delightful in terms of their composition and flavour.

I will say one thing for the glass-plated windows. They may not offer much of a view but they are extremely useful for seeing when an available taxi is on its way. Maybe I’ve missed the actual point of having this type of window after all.

The Brompton Quarter Brasserie
223-225 Brompton Road
South Kensington
SW3 2EJ

Tel: 020 7838 0371

Opening hours: Monday-Sunday 8:30am-10:30pm