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Sketch, London

Saturday 23 October 2004 00:00 BST
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Sprawled over two floors, this former RIBA building houses two restaurants owned by Mourad Mazouz, of Momo fame, named the Lecture Room and the Gallery - making it sound like a venue aimed at art students.

Sprawled over two floors, this former RIBA building houses two restaurants owned by Mourad Mazouz, of Momo fame, named the Lecture Room and the Gallery - making it sound like a venue aimed at art students. But with its notoriously stratospheric prices, this place is not for struggling artists. You will, however, need a surreal sensibility to marvel at the eccentric retro-futuristic décor. See, for example, pictures that morph into chairs, inflatable furniture, a pair of Daliesque inflatable lips, a disorientating staircase scrawled with poetry, continuous video projections in a padded, mirror-studded dining room - and the much-talked about, bejewelled capsule loos with fairground music. Get the picture? The menu, overseen by legendary Parisian chef Pierre Gagnaire has sharply divided the critics, with some dismissing it as pretentious and fussy, and others marvelling at his audaciousness. There are foams, froths, infusions and jellies aplenty, alongside some of the most hip ingredients such as quetsch plums, paimpol beans, pink Lautrec garlic, walnut oil, troffe pasta, spelt, padron peppers, quinoa, black radish and Chinese grapefruit - phew! With two bars, East and West, and a patisserie named Parlour also housed inside the building, if you can afford it, the unique experience that is Sketch is not to be missed.

Sketch, 9 Conduit Street, Mayfair, London 0870 777 4488, www.sketch.uk.com, Lunch Tues-Fri 12-2.30pm dinner 7pm-10.30pm Tues-Sat, six courses. Meal for two, excl wine: £90

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