Restaurant review: Entropy, Leicester

42 Hinckley Road (Tel: 0116-225 9650) price per head: £22

On the face of it, this laidback bar-diner is an unlikely candidate for best Midlands restaurant (as recently voted by the Good Food Guide's readers).

On a Sunday, for instance, you'll feel equally at home, slouching on a couch with a restorative pint, or grabbing a late breakfast, as you will do sitting down to three courses. However, such informality is in stark contrast to the kitchen's rigour.

Chef-owner Tom Cockerill has honed his skills at serious establishments like New York's Per Se, and, for a time, he ran a critically acclaimed "molecular" restaurant, in Leicester.

The menu here is much simpler, but that experience shines through. Deep-fried whitebait with aioli is average, but everything else - squid with mango salsa; mussels in a fulsome broth; a beautiful purple hanger steak with a rich, beefy sauce - is precise and pronouncedly tasty.