Smart place in Islington

 Meeting up with G, she has suggested we go to Frederick's in Camden Passage in Islington. The outside retains the facade of a Victorian pub, but inside it is quite different. There's a bright modern bar at the front, and then the back of the restaurant opens up into very light and open spaces, with a garden area, something of a Tardis. The walls are whitewashed brick, adorned with large geometric modern art in bold colours. It's all very summery and welcoming. 

We're booked for 1pm, and not surprisingly the place is already pretty busy. There are several side rooms, so I can't tell if it was actually full. Service is pretty attentive, so we get to order our wine and water. The wine list is quite extensive, but there is a French Viognier at £30. G has a Prosecco. 

It's a bit hard to characterise the food as any particular cuisine. "Modern European" perhaps best captures it. The starters list in particular is very attractive - several of our long-term favourites such as salt and pepper squid, tuna tartare and dressed crab. But when it comes down to it, almost inevitably, B has the scallops and I have the beef carpaccio. G has stuffed courgette flower tempura. The large scallops come with balls of very squidgy black pudding and a very appley puree. My carpaccio is large, with an excellent topping of rocket, slices and big chunks of parmesan and a very sharp pickled red onion, all in a tasty but light dressing. G's tempura looks very light too.

I'd struggled with the main course choices a bit more, ending up with halibut, prawn and cauliflower pappardelle in what turned out to be a rich and dominant saffron cream. B was very pleased with her hake - now her go-to fish - which came with samphire and mushrooms. G had lamb rump, which she said was very tender (though she had asked for it to be medium to well-done) with "Israeli couscous" - very small, round yellow grains. 

After a little pause for some people watching - Al Murray, the pub landlord, was in - we had some dessert. G had the pear and almond tart with sorbet which seemed very light. B and I shared a chocolate fondant with pistachio ice-cream - everything you would hope it would be, gooey and rich, cooled by the ice-cream. 

Service has generally been good, though we had the usual twitching when they took the wine away and weren't quite as attentive we might have liked. A second bottle of Viognier and glass of Prosecco took the bill to £270 including service.  At first I thought that was a bit much for a neighbourhood place, but on reflection, this was above average, so it was probably reasonable enough. 

Certainly recommended to anyone in the area, but like some other places recently, probably too far for us to make a special trip there usually.  

Greek in Exmouth Market

 I haven't been to a Greek restaurant for quite a long  time, so I was intrigued to read a review of one by Jay Rayner  and when looking for somewhere to go with S&L we decided this was worth a try. The first challenge was booking a table, because Attica doesn't appear to have a website. Tip: the telephone number for its previous incarnation, Kolossi, still works.

Second, it's quite a long way from the nearest tube station. So we arranged to meet at The Eagle on Farringdon Road, part-way there. This has a well-established reputation for its food, but no-one mentioned that this means that the chef will be chopping herbs at the bar so vigorously that you couldn't hear yourself think. Combined with some loud punters and hard surfaces, this made conversation rather challenging. 

We've booked quite early - 7pm - but the restaurant is already fairly full, and soon they are turning people away. It's quite a small place, brightly done out in white and blue. The menu and wine list are both quite short - we do get an SB for £27. There are some mezze options, but we all choose  individually. From the "while you wait" section we order hummus, tsatsiki and tarama with flat bread, though this takes a while to arrive. 

Our starters arrive before we finish the dips. S chose the halloumi, and L the giant beans (gigantes), while our choice is calamari. The halloumi is very good, the beans interesting and the calamari fine, hot and not rubbery. And again our mains arrive before we have completely finished this course, so we're feeling a bit rushed. 

B and S both have the king prawn souvlaki, I have lamb souvlaki and L octopus. They are all good sized portions. My lamb is very tasty, not over-cooked, though the prawns look a little dry. 

We don't have dessert, and just two bottles of wine. That brings the bill to £188 without service, which seems about right. The service has been fine (apart from rushed) and the music (if there was any) is subdued, and not overly Greek. But overall, the feeling was a bit "meh". If it were at the end of your road, then you'd probably make a few visits, but it didn't seem worth the effort of crossing town for.