It's not remotely stuffy, though, and the food can be really good, including a flan of Ossau Iraty cheese under a cap of gazpacho with sardine rillettes toast, grilled lamb chops a la plancha with lamb stuffed piquillo peppers and a sublime cooked-to-order gateau Basque.
A given night might feature appetizers such as anchovies on toast followed by lamb chops with stuffed eggplant slices.
Scarcely looking at the menu, he orders south coast crab on toast, followed by lamb harissa meatballs served with pasta and roasted peppers.
Its sub-£10 mains might include croque monsieur with chips, warm goat's cheese salad on toasted baguette or lamb's liver and mash.
Then I discovered there actually is a book called "Kafka's Soup," although to be fair this is an ironic enterprise giving "a complete history of world literature" in recipes in the styles of various writers, including "Cheese on Toast à la Harold Pinter," "Lamb With Dill Sauce à la Raymond Chandler and Kafkaa's "Quick Miso Soup".
Highlights include asparagus soup; seafood cocktail; brioche French toast and leg of lamb with mint pesto.
But it's clear that Mr. Smith also picked up a British accent, with potted pork, corned beef and cabbage pie, malt-pickled onions, lamb-liver toast with marmalade, and gentleman's relish (in other words, anchovies).
As crab on toast, gazpacho and cold grilled lamb arrived, so did the rain, cunningly slanted to evade the tarpaulin.
I also ate lamb kidneys on toast that were perfectly browned, breathtakingly tender and flavorful, in a light and lightly spiced glaze, finished with parsley.
It offered salmon, sweetbreads, roast chicken, spring lamb, golden plover on toast and peaches.
