69-73 Shaftesbury Avenue,
London,
W1

0872 148 0941

Note: Calls cost 10p per min plus network extras.

add to my map

This is the first London venture for the owners who have a similar restaurant in Weir near Hertford, and they’ve gone straight for the prime location of Shaftesbury Avenue with enough assurance to inspire confidence in the customers.

This part of town is so busy and full of hundreds of nationalities of restaurants and punters that the service in RV2, which was exemplary in that it was very personal without being intrusive, particularly stood out. You feel like a guest, not a number.

The look is elegant, with a small smidgen of eighties metallic shine, which is alleviated with lots of different kinds of lighting. Spots at floor level send light bouncing off the highly polished dark flags. Parts of the ceiling have lovely tiny twinkling bulbs scattered over them that glow from white to a turquoise-green colour.

Blue-mauve light sweeps out from behind corners round the ceiling, and each table has a peachy fuzz coming from the candles that are hidden inside hollowed out blocks of quartz crystal.

The décor isn’t a patch on the food, however, which is a delicious fusion of Indian and some European ideas. The lunch menu is almost criminally good value for money, (£3.00) and the snazzier dinner menu is more expensive, (main courses 14.00-18.00) but well worth it.

I had Crab Cake to start with, which was perfectly cooked, subtly scented, and had a fresh, chewy texture that was very satisfying. My companion greatly enjoyed his tiger prawns, which he declared the best starter he had eaten in four and a half months.

I then had some large, decadent Scallops, which sat fatly in a creamy sauce. It was a sadness to me that the almost lascivious richness of the combination, and the generous portion size meant I couldn’t quite finish them, as they were very good.

My companion fell quite silent with appreciation at his Murgh Palak Paneer, the chef’s speciality of chicken breast stuffed with spinach, cheese and apricot. We washed it down with a good bottle of Sancerre, and left replete.

Although RV2 is smart and rather refined, from the poppadums artfully shaped into cones that arrive while you’re reading the menu, to the soft white chairs in the bar, it doesn’t have any snootiness attached. The atmosphere is gently sophisticated rather than grumpily hip.

It deserves to build on the popularity it has already achieved.