Baby Grand

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £14 (lunch)
   £14 (evening meal)
• House wine: £12 per bottle

• High point: Sophisticated and relaxed
• Low point: Service sometimes spotty
• Food served: Mon-Thu 8am-midnight; Fri 8am-2am; Sat 10am-2am; Sun 10am-midnight
• Open since: 1986
• Also offers: Childrens portions, Childrens high chairs, Pre-theatre menu

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

The original Baby Grand, in contrast to its West End and Merchant City outlets [see below], offers a Manhattan-style bar and diner. The venture mixes glass-topped tables and softly-glowing tapered candles with an open galley kitchen at one end of the bar. The menu has a refreshing absence of trendy fusion recipes. The richness of a creamy pâté of chicken livers is cut by a tart berry compote that is a step above the norm. A goat's cheese salad has the right components in good quantities, plus some bonus blocks of feta. Toulouse sausages (slightly charred) and mash are generously portioned, while the lapin à la moutarde combines slowly-roasted rabbit on the bone with chunky new potatoes and mushrooms in a creamy white wine and grain mustard sauce. Such French leanings don't extend to desserts, which include caramel shortcake and chocolate brownies. Food comes rapidly, as a rule, and that's welcomed by those in a hurry to catch a show at the nearby King's Theatre. On most evenings, a pianist also contributes a romantic note to the proceedings.