Café La Padella

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

A bright turquoise exterior is the first clue that Café La Padella is definitely not another corporate café. Idiosyncratic is the word that best describes this Mediterranean/Middle Eastern eatery, exemplifying, as it does, an 'original mix of temperaments'. The café could almost be transported intact from a Greek or Turkish holiday resort. Deep red walls display holiday paintings and gilt plates, while garden statues and yucca plants break up the tables on blue floor tiles. Power ballads play on low volume. Owner Ozkan Dinler seeks to welcome customers with fresh ingredients. Mussels come in a punchy, peppery tomato sauce, served with garlic bread. The popular vegetable guvec (stew) with aubergines and courgettes has a satisfying herby flavour, topped with a veritable duvet of cheese. The chicken lasagne with chips is ideal comfort food, although perhaps too stodgy for some. Among puddings, a huge wedge of carrot cake is even more gratifying with an accompanying scoop of cappuccino ice-cream. Service could arguably be faster, but customers from the nearby Buddhist centre suit the place well. La Padella is welcoming, laid-back and, at the risk of putting substance over style, unashamedly true to itself.

• High point: Variety for veggies
• Low point: Hum from the bulky cooler cabinet