Little Bay Restaurant

If you saw a plate of moules marinière on a menu for £2.25, would you be suspicious? What about a chargrilled lamb steak for £5.25? It’s going to be rubbish isn’t it? Sinewy, chewy, made with the cheapest cut of meat and slopped on a plate. Well, you’d be mistaken, for despite Little Bay’s knicker-dropping prices their food is almost entirely delicious. Almost, because the pieces of chicken breast in the halloumi salad are a tad on the dry side, and the cutlery on the table is a little bit greasy, but when dinner is only £7.75 before 7 pm and the first course consists of two juicy pig’s cheeks with creamy mashed potato and a rasher of smoky bacon with madeira sauce, how can one complain? Other great dishes are two baked Portobello mushrooms smothered in a sweet, red pepper hummus, and place fillets with a mound of garlicky spinach and crab meat dumped atop them, served with ribbons of cucumber billed as “spaghetti”. Portions are huge, and just in case the chicken salad isn’t filling enough it comes with a side of Soviet-style boiled potato, carrots and cabbage. The desserts are equally scrumptious – a pistachio and white chocolate parfait oozes sinfulness. It’s no wonder this minuscule Kilburn eatery is full, and to make use of space the four corners of the room have steps leading up to individual tables, a little like royal boxes at the theatre.

There are other branches of Little Bay in Farringdon, Battersea, Croydon and Brighton, all owned by the enterprising Peter Ilic, also responsible for Just Around The Corner, the now defunct Finchley Road restaurant without prices, where customers paid what they felt the chef deserved. This welfare-ist approach to dining out continues at Little Bay, as our meal comes to a grand total of £21.