Music and food at Hideaway, Streatham

Since moving to Streatham I have become a convert to dinner and jazz. One of the advantages of this part of the world is the rather good jazz club, Hideaway, just down the road. In keeping with its name, it used to be a very discreet place, hardly noticeable from the road, but now there is a jazz cafe out the front and it seems to be trying to raise its profile.

It's not just jazz either - comedy, blues, salsa nights are all on the menu. I have to admit to being slightly sceptical about the food beforehand - I thought the focus might be on the stage rather than on the kitchen. But I was pleasantly suprised the first time, and the good impression was reinforced the second times. I haven't tried the combination of dinner and comedy though - what if there's a hilarious one-liner mid-mouthful? Would you choke on your dinner?

The menu is mostly old favourites, nothing that's going to distract your attention too much from the music, but it's done well and there are imaginative touches here and there. An unctuous chicken liver pate comes with home-made onion marmalade and lots of toast. I've had the soup twice, in broccoli and stilton and asparagus versions. The former was better, although I think that's partly the concept - half the point of asparagus is the texture, and anyway its magic seems to disappear when it is diluted too much. Another starter, goats' cheese and walnut brulee with spiced poached pear, sounds lovely but looked on the small side when I saw it going past.

The Real Ale Drinker had jerk chicken with coleslaw and chips. He doesn't often order chicken, but said this one was delicious, and the chips that I managed to snaffle were pretty good. Lamb shank in red wine sauce was similarly good quality. A Hideaway platter - which I don't think is on the menu any more - was good, dirty fun - potato wedges, olives, coleslaw, some little savoury pastries, and various other tapas-y bits. It was also enormous - the woman on the next table left about half of hers, though I manfully finished mine. Slightly more sophisticated is the home-made sundried tomato, butter bean and spinach strudel. The word strudel made me expect filo pastry, though in fact it's shortcrust, which makes it a bit more substantial. It came with French beans and some mixed salad that was over-dressed in my view (though salad dressing is one of my bete noires, especially when it's thick, gloopy and slathered about everywhere - why can't they just serve it separately so you can apply it as you wish?)

Aside from my carping about the salad dressing, it's all pretty good. They also do an impressive line in cocktails, and lots of interesting bottled beers at reasonable prices: I had Fullers' Honeydew, while the Real Ale Drinker had draught Adnams. The only reason we haven't yet tried the desserts (home-made sticky toffee pudding, creme brulee and so on) is lack of space. But I think some good music is the perfect dessert.

Hideaway
2 Empire Mews
Streatham
London
SW16 2ED
020 8835 7070
www.hideawaylive.co.uk