Spud, WC2N - review

Spud wants to bestow on jacket potatoes what no one has yet done, or done well at least: gourmet status.

The tiny café has the earthy, lived-in feel of a local market stall yet is designed for the hungry throng that passes daily through Covent Garden at the height of the lunch hour.

So midway through a lazy Friday afternoon, we were still able to get seats on two of the miniature Art Deco chairs just inside the door.

Before us, three Soho-ites carried little white takeaway boxes and proper Fentiman's lemonade back to the office while two others shared a delicious-looking mackerel and crème fraîche filling on the tiny stripped-back bench outside (downstairs seating called The Underspud is expected shortly).

A cheerful waitress offered a choice of normal, herb or black peppercorn butter before I'd even started. It was a spud with smoked Boston bean filling for my friend and a Moroccan lamb tagine for me.

The first was excellent. Plump chickpeas, kidney and butterbeans bursting with a full, smoky flavour rested alongside a feisty cheddar in a thick, bubbling smoky sauce. These sat atop a fluffy jacket potato, smothered in deliciously peppery butter with a nice if slightly limp outer skin.

However, the lamb option was almost as good. I delved into a two-inch high mound of plump couscous crumbled over succulent strips of lamb which were well-seasoned and with a hint of chilli, scattered with faintly crunchy pumpkin seeds and roasted red peppers. Fresh tzatziki gave a refreshing lift to the wintriness of the tagine.

By the end of that Moroccan marathon, there was barely room for the tatty itself, and for a place advertising this "champion of veg" it seemed a shame to cover up the very thing we were there to eat. When I finally got to it, the potato had a thick, unburnt though sadly uncrispy skin coating a soft interior.

I suspect Spud will do well in winter, when people go in search of warm cover and hearty fare (not to mention excellent flat whites made with Allpress coffee beans).

But I fear that by smothering their main ingredient - however well-priced and good the gourmet toppings are - it could deter the simple spud lovers among us.

Spud
26 New Row, WC2N