Canal 125 (Bar, Restaurant)

It’s often noticeable how the name of an establishment can reveal its ethos. Before it’s reincarnation, Babushka was a poorly authenticated alternative to the Revolution chain. Renamed Canal 125 – overlooking Regent’s Canal from it’s perch on 125 Caledonian Road – an assertion of local identity would seem a sound point of departure.

At first, this does not appear to have done enough. The red walls, gold-framed mirrors and crystal chandeliers all remain, although the church-bench seating has thankfully been removed. Two additional floors upstairs offer plenty of room for private parties with their own access to live music and balcony seating. But it is Canal’s focus on food and drink that should carry it through any early teething problems. Appropriately, there is now a small dining area of tulips and white tablecloths that lies in calm contrast to the other half of the bar.

When the starters arrived, it was hard to believe we were in the same place. The crayfish and spinach frittata (£5.25) on a balsamic bed of rocket was delicately flavoursome, and the carpaccio of beef (£6.25), although a little bland, was succulent and colourfully dressed. The salmon fishcakes on baby spinach (mains – £9.95) came with a sauce that managed to combine basil cream with a citric zest. The extremely light and gluggable Statua Bianco (£11.95) worked perfectly as a house white among a list that ranged to an affordable £26.

The cocktails bear their own welcome thrust of independence. The improbable ensembles of Xante pear cognac, Limoncello and Campari make for an original yet over-indulgent selection.

Canal 125 is not a place for feigning sophisticates. Nor is it a place for pinstriped, finger-clicking charisma. Visual tastes are rightly ignored over the more cogent impressions of food, service and drink. It is still early days but this focus is one that deserves its element of success....read more