Eating for under £10 a head is not easy these days, so it is as well to note places where you can get two courses and a coffee and still have change from a tenner each. What’s more, if the restaurant is offering a menu that is interesting and imaginative, as does Pierre Victoire, then you are more than just quids in.

The Venue
Pierre Victoire started as a chain in Edinburgh many years ago and built a reputation for good, cheap food. Many branches fell by the wayside and London is left with just one outlet, but it’s a good one and worth a visit. It has a bistro look about it and presumably the name indicates its influence. With its informal setting that includes a few outdoor tables for the summer, it is, however, more than just rough and ready. Being on a busy street in Soho, there is much passing action to be glimpsed, so it’s also a fun place to go.

The Atmosphere
Bohemian just about sums up this West End bistro as it looks and feels a little louche. The art exhibits on the walls encourage this feeling: they are modern, a little strange and give the place the air of the avant garde. Incidentally, all the paintings are for sale, but at rather more than the cost of a meal. Here you are likely to encounter all the usual Soho types from the worlds of film and advertising and at busy times such as evenings and weekends, there is a definite buzz, although even lunchtimes can be quite lively.

The Food
The set menu is a basic £7.90 for two courses plus a few dishes which have supplements such as char grilled bavette steak at £3 extra. Various specials such as ribeye steak, pork fillet and sea bass have a £6 supplement but that includes a starter too. After 7pm the a la carte menu kicks in but the prices are not at all outrageous. It is good that the menu is quite unpredictable, taking dishes from all around the Mediterranean. This means the choice of starters includes grilled koftes (meat balls) with turnip puree and ezme, a relish of peppers, onions and walnuts, crayfish Marie Rose, chicken falafels with aubergine shakshuka, a mix of spiced egg, tomato and peppers with hummus and tahini, and devilled whitebait. A cold soup of cucumber, avocado and yoghurt is a good choice and very refreshing. Otherwise, the cooked beetroot and seared haloumi cheese in a salad with lamb’s lettuce is a novel combination, with the warm toasted cheese and the cold beetroot making good together in a mass of salad leaves and onions: very appetising indeed.

Main courses are just as interesting – lamb stew on smoky aubergine puree, roast aubergine with goat’s cheese , pepper piperade and haloumi, chef’s salad with smoked chicken, potatoes and sundried tomatoes, or goat’s cheese and peppers, or goat’s cheese and bacon, plus brasserie-style open omelettes with choice of fillings from smoked salmon, bacon and brie, chorizo and manchego cheese and spinach and feta. Extra side orders of vegetables are available at £2.90 but most dishes don’t need them as portions are generous.

The homemade fishcake really does look homemade, nice and rough around the edges and not the smooth industrial type, and it tastes of real fish. Served with Swiss greens and a boiled egg and saffron hollandaise sauce, it is a comfort food winner. The breaded chicken julienne is made of strips of chicken deep fried and served with a mushroom stroganoff in dish that turns fairly ordinary ingredients into something quite special. The two courses for £7.90 offer is a bargain considering how good the food is. Desserts are extra at £3.95 for banoffee pie, tiramisu, tarte tatin, creme brulee and sticky toffee pudding. The lemon posset tart is a tangy dessert and quite big enough for two to share.

The Drink
House wine is under £3 a glass or under £4 for a large glass. The house bottles of Moulin d’Arvie (white or red) are under £11; the white is a good drinking wine at a reasonable price. Other wines range up to £27.95 for Chablis and £59.95 for St Emilion but you may not wish to splash out at a place where the food is at a budget price. Homemade sangria is available in the summer is £2.95 a glass and for a cocktail try the mojito (£5.50). Coffee is a snip at under £2.

The Last Word
It’s good to know that there’s at least one surviving branch of Pierre Victoire left in London. Its policy of good, cheap but interesting food must surely be welcome for most diners in these penny-pinching days.

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