Attention seeker

Tagliatelle with cherry tomatoes, puréed herbs, spring greens and pecorino, £5.50/£7.50

Chargrilled squid with chilli jam and wild rocket, £6.50

Acorn-fed pork loin Iberico with black figs and shaved Parmesan, £7

Oven-roasted pumpkin with spiced sauce and rosemary noodles, £6.50

Brill with salsify and cavolo nero, capers and salsa verde, £12

Saddle of lamb filled with poached sweetbreads on stewed butter beans, £15

Passion fruit and mascarpone layered meringue, £4

Ricotta and dried fruit cake with grappa, £4

Steamed golden syrup sponge with custard, £4

THE first of what is planned to be a group of five Mediterranean-style restaurants in London has opened in Draycott Avenue, Brompton Cross.

The £3m Brompton Bay restaurant is owned by a consortium of business people, who intend to keep a low profile. However, they hope David Massey, who previously headed the kitchen for Antony Worrall Thompson at Woz in London after a spell working in Australia and New Zealand, will hit the headlines as the restaurant's head chef. Massey has a share in the business and is set to become executive chef of all five restaurants, which are being purchased freehold.

The seven-strong kitchen brigade cooks from a menu that changes every six weeks. Massey is looking closely at what he calls "performing and non-performing dishes", keeping on popular dishes when the menu changes. Of 11 starters, 11 main courses and 11 desserts, only eight "non-performers" were removed during the last menu change. The same à la carte menu is available at both lunch and dinner.

Popular starters include seared scallops with celeriac purée and shallot sauce (£8.50/£12.50) and potted Arbroath smokies with blini, poached egg and hollandaise sauce (£6).

Massey says one dish has become a phenomenal seller - the main course of corn-fed chicken breast filled with goats' cheese and Le¢n chorizo with roasted Jerusalem artichokes, carrots and leeks (£9.50). "We did a tasting of different chorizos to get the right one for the dish and the one from Le¢n in the north of Spain came out the best - it's very juicy, with lots of oils and just the right amount of spice," he says.

The chorizo is roasted in olive oil and then combined in a food processor with goats' cheese, toasted pine nuts and seasoning. A piping bag is used to squeeze the mixture into an incision made in the chicken breasts, which are then seared in a hot pan and placed in the oven. The chicken breast is sliced into three and served with oven roasted vegetables, which change with the seasons. "We easily sell 100-150 portions of the dish a week," says Massey.

Any chocolate dessert on the menu always sells well. These have included chocolate orange pots with white chocolate ice-cream and Cointreau (£4), chilled chocolate soufflé cake with clotted cream (£4), and chocolate and marmalade pudding with vanilla sauce (£4).

However, a coffee zabaglione with cookies and shortbread (£4) is Massey's signature dessert. He uses a combination of sherry and Kahl£a as the alcoholic base for the frothy concoction, which is served in a cappuccino cup. The accompanying cookie is dark chocolate with white chocolate chunks, while the shortbread is flavoured with saffron.

Average spend at Brompton Bay for a three-course meal with wine is about £35, and the 80-seat restaurant averages about 60 covers a night. n

Brompton Bay, 96 Draycott Avenue, London SW3 3AD. Tel: 0171-225 2500