The Warrington

Family visiting from Australia wanted a Gordon Ramsay experience, but not one of the expensive ones. That meant a visit to one of his pubs was in order, and we decided on the newest one - The Warrington, in Maida Vale.

Loved the look of the downstairs bar, and the lovely tiled entrance, but as we had already had drinks at the nearby Prince Alfred, we headed straight upstairs. The dining room looked posher than I was expecting - definitely more restaurant than gastropub. Our waitress was lovely, and patient, though some of the other staff seemed pretty inexperienced.

I was disappointed that there was nothing that really appealed to me on the menu. Thankfully my dining companions were more enthused and had trouble choosing between a few dishes. In the end, they started with the Scallops with pea puree and mint vinaigrette, the Black pudding salad with poached egg and mustard dressing, and the Cured Salmon. I tasted each dish and have to say that the scallops were very good, can't remember the last time I tasted them so perfectly cooked.

For main course I stuck with my old favourite - the Ribeye steak with chips - the steak was cooked as requested and nice and flavoursome. The others had the Roasted baby chicken with traditional garnish, and the Choucroute garnie - both dishes were nicely presented and happily polished off. We opted for some old favourites for dessert - the Chocolate fondant, and the Rhubarb & apple crumble. Both were as expected, tasty.

Although we enjoyed our meal, there was something not quite right about the experience - I think it may have had to do with the fact that The Warrington is billed as a gastropub, but is more formal than that. For a more relaxed Ramsay-gastropub experience, I think I'll stick to The Devonshire, in Chiswick.