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.