I'd heard a lot about The Grove, of its imaginative menu, organic wines and about its friendly and buzzy atmosphere, so after it won The Green's Best Restaurant Overall award I was determined to find out more. Despite thinking it might be quiet on a Monday night, I booked in advance: in fact, it was very busy and, though they had lost my booking, they fortunately were able to accommodate us! The menu changes twice daily - so it's easy to imagine going back a few times and never having to have the same dish. A vast range of starters and main courses made it very difficult to choose but to begin I chose the scallopes with a savoury pea puree. My partner chose the duck liver salad which came with delicious roasted cherry tomatoes and choriso. Both starters encompassed quite large portions and we finished these with waistbands feeling very snug.

For my main course, I felt like treating myself and chose a T-bone steak, which came with gorgeous rustic chips, a spicy green peppercorn sauce and green beans and tomato and red onion salsa. The dish was beautifully presented - everyone in the room stopped and stared - but the steak was an uneven cut and consequently one part had experienced rather more of the flame than the rest of it. However, its tenderness spoke volumes for the other ingredients in the dish.

My partner chose the ostrich steak, again with roasted tomatoes which he said were lovely, and wilted rocket, which was surprisingly bitter, The ostrich was rather better done that he had expected but, being ostrich, it didn't suffer for it. By the time we had accomplished these dishes, it was beyond us to consider dessert, despite plentiful temptation - maybe next time. 

Final verdict? The Grove is a casual, neighbourhood restaurant with a wonderfully laid back yet vibrant atmosphere, serving imaginative and, on the whole, extremely impressive food. At around £65 for a meal for two with wine we thought we'd chosen very well indeed.