iso-bar

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses: £12
• House wine: £10.95 per bottle

• High point: Diner-like atmosphere
• Low point: Watch your head in the toilets
• Food served: Mon-Fri 10am-4pm; Sat/Sun 10am-5pm
• Bar open: Mon-Sat noon-1am; Sun 12.30pm-1am
• Private dining: Up to 16 covers
• Open since: 2000
• Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of menu), Childrens portions, Take away

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

This review is from the 2007 edition.

Iso-bar is a place of two halves. Downstairs lies a petite bar and a café-style wooden seating area where locals munch breakfast and lunch, while upstairs there's the funky iso-lounge with retro furnishings and private bar available for hire. The lunch menu is fairly standard with a mixture of pub grub and some inventive sandwiches, including a melt-in-the-mouth gourmet burger or a vegetarian quarter-pounder with an extensive selection of toppings to choose from. Adding a more exotic slant, Thai fish-cakes are delicately flavoured and perfectly formed. Vegetarians are well catered for from breakfast through to lunch, with a flavoursome brie and roast vegetable pastry as a choice main course. There's no food in the evening, when casual diners are replaced by a trendier drinking set, gazing at the abstract art and indulging in the very reasonably priced cocktail menu. Couples can squeeze into the cosy booths for two, while larger groups are accommodated at a bench-lined table running down the middle of the room. The lack of desserts is a bit of a disappointment but they do serve a good coffee.