Rocket Holborn

This City micro-chain ticks all the boxes when it comes to business lunches and after work drinks: there’s a crowd-pleasing menu with stone baked pizzas, fish and chip salads and burgers, and a well-priced wine list that has something for everyone.

The starters read like upmarket party food: crab cakes, halloumi and chorizo kebabs, coconut king prawns, boards of cured meats and cheeses. The battered baby fried squid is good, and has quite a kick to it. The filo wrapped marinated feta is a sinful portion of cheese stuffed in wispy pastry and drizzled with honey, not recommended for those who are watching their cholesterol levels.

The main draw are the pizzas, so we try the vegetable calzone with spinach, olives and mushrooms; the dough has risen to form a huge poppable bubble, something we haven’t seen on a calzone before. The smoked black pudding with butterfly king prawns and pancetta pizza lack's the calzone's minor theatrics here, but while the black pudding is a little on the bland side and it could do with a few more prawns it's pleasant enough.

This newest branch in Holborn is on the site of what used to be Wabi, ex-Nobu Scott Hallsworth’s first London restaurant, who has now gone on to better fortunes with Kurobuta in Chelsea. Although Wabi is successful in Horsham – Jordan is a fan – it didn’t last very long in the capital. It’s safe to assume that Rocket will be around a fair bit longer.