My first London Restaurant Festival Menu experience was at lunchtime today (Thursday 8th) at the lovely Quo Vadis in Soho where sunshine was streaming in through the stained-glass windows. The exceptional value immediately put flesh on the bones of the festival as the £15 for two courses included a main course of roasted partridge (provided, maybe even shot by Tim Hart the father of the hospitable Hart brothers who own the restaurant) served with a delectable stuffing of chopped meat and chestnuts wrapped inside a Savoy cabbage leaf and fondant potatoes.

On the a la carte the same partridge dish is priced at £23 so the bargain is blatantly obvious particularly as the first course I chose of mackerel with Serrano ham, capers and a parsley emulsion was immaculately prepared with the mackerel skin as snappy as crackling and the flesh staunch enough to partner the ham perfectly.

Nigel Barden who will present the London Restaurant Festival Awards on Tuesday 13 October rated highly the alternative main course of crisp pork belly with caramelised onions and apple sauce and had the nerve to ask for a first course from the Festival Dinner Menu (£25/£35 for two/three courses) of pig’s trotters and ceps on QV sourdough.  We shared a dessert of praline chocolate bar with caramelised banana with spoons clashing as we approached the middle from either end.

The Festival aims to beckon diners into restaurants with the promise of a more than fair deal and hopefully become the start of a lasting friendship. I have a feeling that Quo Vadis may do very well in the voting for Best Festival Menu on www.londonrestaurantfestival.com or www.toptable.com