Bar M has a most surprising and successful contemporary interior created on the raised ground floor of The Star and Garter - a huge Victorian Baroque public house, sandwiched between the Lower Richmond Road and the river, hard by Putney Bridge. Putney is fast becoming quite a Mecca for the gastronome with well established restaurants such as Enoteca Turi, the Italian restaurant justly famed for its wines and La Mancha with its good selection of authentic Spanish tapas and grills. More recently we have seen the opening of the minimalist but essentially foodie Phoenix Bar and Grill, and timed perfectly to coincide with this year's Boat Race, the Putney Bridge Restaurant, one of London's only plethora of new restaurants to have been purpose built from scratch.

Bar M is right next door to the Putney Bridge Restaurant, and I for one find its cool interior with shades of cream and aqueous green infinitely preferable to the rather stark rowing club interior of the Putney Bridge bar, much vaunted as it is.

Bar M is an "all day" bar from 11.00 am to 11.00 pm to be precise, except for Sundays when the opening hours are from 12 noon to 10.30pm. There's also all day food that is modern Italian in style, served on a kaleidoscopic array of coloured plates. The menu is unstructured, in that it does not attempt to differentiate between starters and main courses. Dishes are offered as themselves you choose according to appetite, fancy or time of day. Prices vary from Stg 3.25 for a substantial Tuna Nicoise sandwich to Stg 7.10 for a rib eye steak with fries.

Four of us sat in an open window overlooking the river enjoying an almost al fresco lunch on a fine summer's day. We began by sharing two different plates of pasta, each portion (Stg 4.95) was more than generous enough to divide. Spaghetti Antonella was chaste but lovely, adorned only with a drizzle of virgin oil and garlic, plenty of freshly shaved parmesan and some finely chopped sweet red chilies. Simplicity in cooking is one of the most difficult things to bring off, and this dish was an excellent example of such skill. The Rigatoni Bar M was colourful and robust, well differentiated from the spaghetti by a tomato and basil sauce, and piquant capers. Only the parmesan was duplicated, entirely to our satisfaction!

A fresh tuna steak (Stg 7.10) looked terrific with fierce black lines from the grill. Perhaps these had been applied more with an eye for effect than with a palate for flavour as the fish was not quite as juicy as it deserved to be. The Nicoise salad that accompanied it was crisp and had all the correct ingredients. A goat's cheese salad (Stg 4.95) with chicory and bacon lardons was generous, the cheese served on rather soft "toasted croutons" that could have borrowed a little time from the tuna steak on the grill. I liked the fact that the salads were not all-purpose numbers that are dumped on every plate, but seemed to have been designed carefully to complement their main ingredient. The seafood salad, for instance was based on mixed green leaves with added colour and variety from a decorative selection of mixed peppers, strawberries and kiwi fruit.

For the princely sum of Stg 4.50 I had three nicely grilled fresh sardines, full of intense flavour, their natural oiliness was cut by a sharp lime vinaigrette. We all shared my side order of fries for Stg 1.50. There is a small wine list and we avoided the ubiquitous Blossom Hill. Quaffing an Australian Shiraz that was full and fruity, I reckoned this was pretty good value for Stg 9.95 a bottle considering our prime riverside situation!

Puddings don't feature very strongly at Bar M, but there are cookies and pastries, aimed more at those who drop in for coffee and a snack. We thought we'd go next door to the Putney Bridge restaurant bar for coffee, but at 3.30pm this is beyond their capability. We were only too delighted to pop back into Bar M for coffee and another lingering look at the river.

The Star and Garter has other wonderful spaces that are ripe for development. There's a gloomy cellar bar with potential, but the first floor ballroom is stunning. The rococo plasterwork is quite over the top and the river views are breathtaking.

Bar M is not pretending to be a restaurant, yet it offers interesting and well prepared food that is just right for a relaxing lunch or informal supper.

If you have visited Bar M please let us have your comments

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