The Ivy The Restaurant and its Recipes – AA Gill

For the uninitiated The Ivy is a restaurant in Covent Garden near London's theatre district – it is thought to have been around since about 1917 evolving into the most famous of the theatre restaurants. Even though it has a lunch service, 5.30pm sees early diners through its doors for pre theatre dinner.

Do not however expect to call and book a table for next week – or next month for that matter. Their waiting lists run to months ahead and if you'd like to think you can blag your way in and infer that you're a regular, the Ivy's definition of regular is three or four times a week.

This book is in two parts – “a day in the life of” and the recipes that form part of that life.

The phone begins to ring 9am onwards, building up to the lunch service - to the first pre-theatre early dinner guests at 5.30pm – onto 8.30pm dinner guests and then first night post theatre parties and a 1am finish. You get the idea!

For example, the fishcakes recipe used in GOM 16 came from The Ivy and it is, without doubt, the best fishcake recipe I've ever used.

From a cook's perspective it “does what it says on the tin”. There's nothing high faluting here - if you could transport your ideal comfort from home, wrapped in a throw with your favourite plate of comfort food on your lap whilst watching Love Actually (or whatever film floats your boat) then this is the place to be. In a word, unpretentious.

This book is rich in history and in recipes too. The greatest compliment any restaurant can be given is that at the heart of the menu are dishes that have been there year after year as demanded by its customers.

Mr. Gill is well known as the restaurant critic of “The Sunday Times” and his book, first published in 1997, is a worthy addition to any cook's bookshelf.