Next big thing after River Café? The River Café Café next door

IT has been twice named as London's "most overpriced restaurant" with every main course costing at least £50.

- Jonathan Prynn

But that has not stopped a table at The River Café in Hammersmith enduring as one of the capital's hottest gastronomic tickets since it opened in 1987, with A-list celebrities from Sir Paul McCartney and Harrison Ford to Emily Blunt and Gwyneth Paltrow beating a path to its door.

From this week less well-heeled fans of Ruthie Rogers' Italian-influenced cooking, who might baulk at a £300 bill for dinner for two, will get the chance to sample a pared down taste of the cuisine that made her one of the most famous names in the London restaurant scene - for a fraction of the cost.