What is it about Pimlico?  This is an area that has never really recovered from the fame of that flickering period film “Passport to Pimlico”. Somehow it is less swish than neighbouring Chelsea but much smarter than neighbouring Victoria. The restaurants here are spooky and an unusually high proportion are trapped in a time warp. Grumbles (a trad bistro) proudly announces that it opened in 1964 and looks like it’s stayed much the same ever since. O Sole Mio is an old-time Italian. But the most interesting of the SW1 oldies is Pomegranates.

Patrick Gwynn-Jones opened Pomegranates in 1974 and as he had spent time in the merchant navy he built his menu around the eclectic choice of dishes that he had enjoyed during his travels, making it one of the first restaurants to offer a multi-cuisine menu. He also claims that Pomegranates was the first restaurant to introduce gravadlax to London diners.

The basement restaurant is dark, comfortable and old-fashioned. “Pistol” pattern cutlery, bentwood chairs and a certain formality about the service. This place is in a time warp which gives it a great deal of period charm. Start with one of Patrick’s very serious Bloody Marys, strong and satisfying. The menu is eclectic and reads pretty much the same as it did in 1974 – starters include Jamaican fish tea (an elegant fish soup with a splash of rum); a classic prawn cocktail; the much vaunted home made gravadlax is very sound; there’s an escargot and wild mushroom pie; or melon with port – remember that combo? Taramosalata comes with hot pitta bread; there’s chicken satay; or fresh terrine of foie gras. Main courses also lead you from cuisine to cuisine with minimum of fuss: crab cakes with sorrel and pea puree; Hong Sui Yeung (crisp breast of lamb) with Sichuan sauce; Welsh salt duck; West Indian curried goat; Persian Fesenjan (duck with walnuts and pomegranate). There is also a section devoted to excellent Aberdeen Angus beef – a sirloin steak comes with maitre d’Hotel butter; there’s a carpet bagger steak – just as it should be, top quality steak lifted by the iodine tang of oysters. The steak tartare also comes as “tartare Baltique” – perfectly seasoned chopped steak with the addition of a little roll mop herring, this is a real winner and may qualify as “best ever” steak tartare.

Eating here is like eating in an old-established private club, you get a personal welcome, interesting dishes and a wine list that is considered and features some quality bottles. Returning to bygone days has a charm all of its own and for such a jolly indulgence you will pay around £45 per head for three courses (ex-drinks).

Charles Campion

Grumbles, 35 Churton Street, SW1 (020 7834 0149)

O Sole Mio, 35 Belgrave Road, SW1 (020 7976 6687)

Pomegranates, 94 Grosvenor Road, SW1 (020 7282 6560)