Tooley scrumptious: Magdalen, Tooley Street, London

Tag : pickled baby cucumber

It's just as well the by-line photos accompanying restaurantreviews aren't legally obliged to reflect the actual size of the writer. There has been such a waxing and waning of waistlines inreviewing circles recently that picture editors would be strugglingto keep pace. As some of my big-boy peers melt into slender ephebesthanks to no-carb diets, I'm heading in the opposite direction,having adopted a punishing regime of round-the-clock eating inpreparation for the judging of the London Restaurant Awards.

The enthusiasm of my vary-sized fellow judges for Magdalen,nominated in the Best British category, was the spur I needed tomake an overdue visit to this not-particularly-new, but apparentlyvery good, restaurant in Bermondsey. Since opening early last year,it has picked up glowing reviews and a devoted following. It hassurvived trial by flooding, when a burst water main dumped eightinches of water in the basement kitchen. And now it would face theultimate test; trial by David Baddiel, the burst water main ofreviewing companions.
 
It didn't start promisingly. Magdalen glows out incongruously froma grimy strip of highway fringed by riverside developments andDickensian railway arches. The five-minute walk from London Bridgestation is one only Will Self could love. Once inside, there's acosy, bistro-ish feel, evoked by claret-coloured walls, netcurtains and bentwood chairs. David was almost prepared to becharmed. But then our fellow guest Sharon spoke up, swift andmerciless: "It's a bit Robin's Nest."
 
Cruel, maybe; but strangely intuitive. Because like the Fulhambistro run by Richard O'Sullivan and Tessa Wyatt in thelate-Seventies sitcom, Magdalen was opened by a husband and wifeteam, the chefs James and Emma Faulks. Financial backing came fromJames's father, Roger, reprising the role taken by Tony Britton inthe series, but with (one would hope) rather less huffingdisapproval. Only the employment of a one-armed Irish dishwashercould complete the happy picture.