Cuisine: Eclectic

Cost:

Rating:

Where?: 325 Fulham Road, London SW10 9QL

Closest station(s): South Kensington, Gloucester Road, Earl’s Court.

Telephone: 020 7376 7224

Website: www.vingtquatre.co.uk

I managed to even shock myself with how much I disliked my outing to Vingt Quatre. As its name suggests the selling point of Vingt Quatre is that it is open 24 hours a day, allegedly offering a fair selection of well cooked food at times that one would ordinarily be condemned to a kebab house.

The first thing that put me off was the décor; the high backed bench seating is unappealing and fails to create a restaurant atmosphere – surely the whole point of the venture is to offer a restaurant experience at anti-social hours. The menu managed to alienate me further; fish & chips, pork escalope Milanese, three cheese macaroni, wok fried vegetables – yes, the menu would appear to have been selected at random; reminiscent of a motorway service station.

You will however find Vingt Quatre busy on a Friday and Saturday between midnight and 3am; with those who have escaped local watering holes in search of food and importantly more alcohol not having a huge number of other options. I have little love for Vingt Quatre, the alcohol is absurdly priced (£17 for a half bottle of house wine in the early hours – when it is in the region of £13 for a bottle during the day) and the food too is rather steep for the mediocre fare.

Why the owners decided to churn out an eclectic mix of average food, rather than trying to offer something unique - namely decent food for when you leave a pub, bar or club I do not know. To my mind if you want food and drink at 3 or 4 in the morning then you would be better off going home, ordering a pizza and visiting www.drinks-delivery.co.uk.