In many ways, food is the new theatre. So it seems only fair that Tim Montgomery's rich, highly detailed cooking style should be the star attraction at this heritage-listed former playhouse. It's almost a folly of Victorian ballroom grandeur, with its heavy red velvet curtains, polished floors and spot-lit bar. The food is equally theatrical, the technique high. Two little balls of mud crab and celeriac remoulade arrive draped with avruga and spanking-fresh tuna belly; and a beautifully rested quail breast leans against spinach and puffed rice next to a golden-crusted scotch egg of quail meat and quail egg. Hunks of duck magret with nuggets of almost liverish duck 'oysters' come with a piquant sauce charcutiere, and crisp roasted mahi mahi is dramatically teamed with squid bits and a feisty romesco sauce. A toasty rice pudding with burnt butter ice-cream nestles in a bowl of autumn leaves and liquid nitrogen, sending out wispy autumnal mists: a show-stopper in itself.