Mine

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £14 (lunch)
   £14 (evening meal)
• House wine: £12.95 per bottle

• High point: A welcoming balance between elegance and cosiness
• Low point: Cheap burger buns lower the tone
• Food served: Mon–Sun noon–10pm
• Bar open: Mon–Thu 11am–midnight; Fri/Sat 11am–3am; Sun 11am–midnight
• Open since: 2006
• Also offers: Children's high chairs

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

Two parts gentleman's club to one part burlesque lounge, the interior of Mine is an impressively luxurious setting. Booths of deep crimson leather and dark, polished wooden tables lit by individual 1940s-style lamps lend the space a feeling of intimacy and old-school glamour, which alone warrants a sampling of the cocktail list. The food menu doesn't quite reflect the sumptuous style of the bar itself, but it does offer a crowd-pleasing selection of dishes such as a classic burger with melted gruyère or moules-frites with herbs, lemon and roast garlic. A starter of prawn and avocado salad served in a cocktail glass may sound uninspiring, but the pretty, complementary pink and green layers of buttery avocado, peppery rocket and chilled, juicy prawns in a crème fraîche herb mayonnaise give an old dish a fresh twist. A glazed goat's cheese tart with caramelised pears and fresh pesto is beautifully presented and packed with bold flavours, while the desserts are uniformly calorific – the almost truffle-textured home-made chocolate mousse is a decadent delight that one can easily justify in such opulent surroundings.