Merkaba

Merkaba attracts mostly fair-weather friends. In winter, its inescapable café/bar feel seems an incongruous match for the rather familiar menu, & the place is mostly populated by Myhotel guests; when the sun comes out, however, the concertina glass doors are opened up & there’s a sudden bunfight for alfresco seats. The kitchen is continuing along its mainstream European path, sending out plates of salmon cooked three ways, accompanied by a salad of apple & dill-marinated cucumber, before catering to the old guard with the likes of wild-mushroom risotto or slow-braised lamb shank with swede & carrot mash. For liquid refreshment, there are racily named cocktails (carpet burn, kinky boots), or you can keep your virtue intact with one of the £5-a-pop smoothies: peach, pineapple or guava.