Skylon at the Royal Festival Hall, London

It must be nerve wrecking for any maitre d' top open a restaurant's doors for the first time to the public. It must be doubly so on a freezing cold, wet and windy day at the end of May. The reservation desk of Skylon called me in the afternoon to say their heating has broken down!!!

Unfazed by the potential chill, it was a delight to arrive at this new Conran restaurant in pristine condition - sympathetic lighting and a soft colour palette made the austere interior of the 50s space welcoming. Soon after we sat down, the waiters brought a round of mulled wine to warm us up!

The menu contained many egg dishes - so I tried the Egg Skylon (kind of Egg Florentine with Cornish crab meat). My main course was pan fried lemon sole topped with grey prawns. It was also entertaining to watch the staff trying various ways to warm the large space - all with a good sense of humour. Let's hope such high spirit will carry on through to the re-opening night of the Royal Festival Hall on 11 June and beyond.

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