With Jeremy Lee at the stoves, the revamped Quo Vadis is almost perfect. So why the hurry to get the diners out?26-29 Dean Street, London W1 (020 7437 9585). Meal for two, including wine and service, �85As I know you hang on my every word you will recall that two weeks ago I was having a whine about no-reservation policies. This week I am having a whine about the time-limited table. When I booked at Quo Vadis I was told the table was mine, but only for two hours. Isn't that lovely? We're so looking forward to you dining with us. Just not for very long.Here's what I don't understand. You are a skilled chef working in a restaurant alongside experienced front-of-house staff. Therefore you know how long it takes to take an order, cook the food and get it to the table. In short, you must know how long it takes someone to eat in your restaurant. So the only reason you would insult your customers by announcing a time limit is if you can't process them that quickly. Otherwise you wouldn't need to announce a time limit. You would just know. And there are no excuses here about infuriating diners dawdling at the table. A bit of dawdling is what a good dinner is about. And here's the other thing: this time-limit thing is relatively new. Yet suddenly it's bloody everywhere. I am certain that people haven't got slower at eating in restaurants.It's infuriating and depressing, and nowhere more so than in the recently relaunched Quo Vadis, because in every other way this place is a delight. The restaurant, which opened in Soho in 1926, was taken over in 2008 by Sam and Eddie Hart, who ran it as a classy smart brasserie where a good lunch cost �140 for two. Now they have brought a marvellous chef named Jeremy Lee into the business. Lee is one of those rare phenomena in the London food world: a chap everyone agrees is a good thing. Partly that is because he is sharp, funny, learned, engaged and the kind of bloke you always want in the room, but mostly it's because he has such damn good taste. For 16 years he cooked at the Blueprint Caf� down in Docklands, where that killer combination of French technique, an instinct to feed, and a love of the robust over the fancy made it a place of pilgrimage. All of that is here, in a room which has been lightened and freshened to match his mood.The gentle, restrained side of Lee is represented by a crisp salad of fennel, slightly bitter puntarelle and soft curls of squid, which come dressed with a spectacular olive oil. The butch side of the equation comes in hunks of seared pigs' liver wrapped in salty bacon and sage leaves, served pink, the pan deglazed with sprightly vinegar. There is a perfect wing of skate with capers and brown butter, and proper mashed potato and, best of all, there is a pie. Lee is the god of pies. And those wishing to write to me complaining that a pastry lid does not a pie make, please go find someone who actually cares. This was a pie of long-braised pheasant, duck and mallard, in a light broth under a proper golden pastry of the sort you only get by chucking animal fats at it.We finished with three desserts. There was a very grown-up pink grapefruit, orange and campari sorbet, which is the sort of thing to make you sit up straight and pay attention. A perfect crunchy-chewy walnut meringue with quince, pear and vanilla ice cream was nursery food in disguise. A slab of St Emilion au chocolat was heart-stopping.Anybody who ever ate Lee's food at the Blueprint Caf� will recognise that, in the trip from Docklands to Soho, he has felt no need to go on some journey of personal discovery. He has changed nothing. Which is just as we would wish it. His arrival coincided with a drop in prices at Quo Vadis. That pie was �14. Puddings are mostly �5.50. The cheapest bottle of wine is less than �20. All of which may be the excuse for the time limit on your table; the need to get punters through and so on. But it really doesn't wash. Dump that and Quo Vadis will be pretty much perfect.Email Jay at jay.rayner@observer.co.uk or visit guardian.co.uk/profile/jayrayner for all his reviews in one placeFood & drinkRestaurantsRestaurantsJay Raynerguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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