On the grubby paving stones of Stroud Green Road, a carefully chalked menu alerts you to this small, smart, gently offbeat restaurant. It’s just one of the touches that lifts your dining experience above the ordinary, along with the crumbly, oaty soda bread brought to your table, the perfectly soft butter, and the flakes of salt on the chocolate dessert that make it sing. Owners Neil Gill and Michael Spurgeon list such names as Alan Yau and respected gastropubs The Eagle and The Duke of Cambridge on their CVs, and their experience shows in dishes that are accomplished yet unfussy. Polish off octopus carpaccio with saffron oil, chilli and lime, before roast pork belly with spring greens and shiitake mushrooms, washed down with fruity, and pleasantly frugal, organic Spanish white. Convivial atmosphere and genial, clued-up staff, too.