The Lockhart (no photos, I’m afraid…) describes itself as offering refined Southern US cooking and it does exactly that: a taste of the American South in the West End. It was our first visit and we were impressed.

It’s an exceptionally friendly place, with a stripped-back informal charm. This is epitomised by chef Brad McDonald, who comes to every table that orders the selection of charcuterie and pickles – most tables as far as we could see – and talks the diners through their platter. He did this with great enthusiasm, described the farms from which he sources the meat, talked proudly of the fact that two of the cuts came from the same pig (we were even expecting to hear its name) and conveyed a sense of the dedication and creativity that go into curing process. And we heard him doing this time-after-time, always with boyish excitement. It works and gave us the best of feelings about the place.

And the charcuterie was excellent: coffee-cured lonza, Jack Daniels-cured Middlewhite pork belly, beef saucisson and a German-style ‘summer sausage’. Each of the meats was interesting, slightly different and beautifully-made. The accompanying pickles – slaw, gherkins and pickled beets – were a good foil. At £10 for the platter, it’s a fabulous and good value starter. We wondered whether we would need something else and our waiter suggested adding the catfish goujons. Fine though they were, it was an unnecessary addition and so different as to distract from the charcuterie; we wouldn’t do that again.

The mains managed to combine heartiness and what we understand to be typical southern flavours with that self-declared refined approach – although they were still very filling and we were grateful for the American custom of a doggie bag for the leftovers.

The Smoked Jacob’s ladder short ribs with creamed corn and pickled red cabbage was rich and unctuous, with the meat meltingly soft. The corn and cabbage provided distinctly separate contrasts and the three components worked well together.

The Southern-fried chicken was nothing like the stereotype of a dish of flaccid chicken with an over-seasoned russet coating. The batter was wonderfully crisp packaging for some high quality chicken. But there was so much of it – at least the doggie bag meant we could have it for breakfast too! The chicken came with a very good coleslaw and collard greens that may have been a touch too vinegary.

The waiter encouraged us to add a portion of corn bread. There’s some theatre about this, because it comes to the table sizzling in its skillet and delivers a luxurious and no doubt dangerously unhealthy richness. But to be honest, it wasn’t necessary. Even though we did no more than pick at it, our main courses were consequently even more challenging, and we were nibbling on corn bread for much of the next day.

The Lockhart is very good value for the quality and innovation of the cooking. Main courses are around the £15 mark and we had no room for dessert. The wine list is wholly American – in fact other than two or three bottles from Washington State and Oregon, it’s wholly Californian. That adds a premium, but I suspect it would be difficult to find these wines as keenly-priced elsewhere in London. We went for a Hahn Pinot Noir, which was pretty good across all the dishes.

All in all, a great evening and we will for sure return to The Lockhart. And there were leftovers to fill some gaps the next day too.