Market

43 Parkway, Camden, NW1 7PN

I was going away to stay with friends in Kent overnight, so Mr PP decided to treat me to lunch before I went. Next door to Viet-anh is Market, and as they do a rather nice looking set lunch, he persuaded me to come back to Camden before setting off to the station.

Here is yet another place that you really have to book, certainly at lunch-time. They open at 12pm. I got there at 11.57am. I paused to make a quick call, and in those two minutes another couple arrived, headed in seconds before me and got the last unbooked table for two in the place! It was such a Curb Your Enthusiasm moment ...

I expressed my disappointment (not in Larry David terms) and the waitress found a table they wouldn't need back till 1.30pm. Given that Mr PP had to be back at work by 1pm this was no problem.

It did make me think though about booking policies. It seems to be more and more difficult to eat anywhere without a reservation. During the time we were in Market, they turned away several more customers, and when we left at 1pm, there were only two other tables occupied - the couple who arrived at 12pm and a four booked at 1pm. I know many people find it utterly infuriating, but I have always liked Anchor & Hope's no-booking policy, and wish more would adopt it.

The Menu:
The £10 lunch set menu has two starters and two mains. Mr PP opted for the salt beef salad whilst I went for the spicy butternut squash soup. For mains we had fish, chips and tartarte sauce and shepherds pie.

The rest of the menu looked interesting, with the kinds of dishes you would expect on a modern, seasonal British menu but with mains generally starting around £13-£14 we were not tempted.

Our Meal:
Some very nice sour bread was quickly followed by the starters. The soup was fine, although nothing exceptional. Mr PP reported that his salad was very tasty, and the soft-boiled egg was absolutely perfectly cooked.

Service was a little slow, given that our table accounted for half the covers they had on. But the mains were overall worth waiting for. My fish was beautifully cooked and the batter was light and crunchy, with no hint of greasiness. Tartare sauce was equally delicious. The chips were disappointing though. I am quite fussy about my chips - I put it down to being brought up in Glasgow which does have the best fish and chip shops anywhere. These were too dry, not soft enough, just wrong. But not enough to ruin the dish.

Mr PP's shepherds pie was very tasty. Not made with mince, it was slow cooked chunks of meat which just fell apart, but had loads of flavour. Plenty of creamy, smooth mash topped it off. It really was a bit of a triumph.

By the time we had got through the main courses it was nearly time for Mr PP to head back to work, so we didn't have a chance to try any coffees.

The bill came to £31 including drinks and service at 12.5%.

What we liked:
The food was good - the mains in particular being well-cooked and very tasty.

What we didn't like:
Eating in a practically empty restaurant - it really did lack ambience.

Slightly slow service for a lunch-time set menu - my assumption would be that most people would need to be back at work within an hour and lunch at Market wasn't quite quick enough for that.

Will we be back?:
Probably but very infrequently - more likely to be working our way through the menu next door.