One Market

One Market has a large, ground floor dining room with an open kitchen. Chef Mark Dommen does not get the journalistic attention of some other chefs in the city, but gained a Michelin star for the restaurant. He trained at Fleur de Lys in the city before working at restaurants such as Lespinasse in New York, after which he moved back to the bay area, where he was head chef at Julia's Kitchen in Napa Valley. He opened One Market in 2004.

At lunch we started with a small cup of chilled pea soup, with a crouton, creme fraiche and a hint of citrus; the pea flavour was clean, and the citrus element just right (15/20). A starter of Dungeness crab with citrus water and palm hearts was very nicely made the citrus water adding a refreshing note without dominating the fresh taste of the crab (16/20). Crab cakes with saffron aioli were also well made, with good texture and crab that tasted very fresh (15/20).

A "shrimp Louis" had good romaine hearts, fresh avocado, a quail egg garnish and a pleasingly rich sauce, but the shrimp had that hint of iodine suggesting a less than perfect shrimp (14/20),   Much better was a risotto with manilla clams, rocket and watercress. This was very well made indeed, with excellent stock and very well judged rice (17/20). Mahi mahi was carefully cooked, with leeks that were a little acidic, but the star of the dish were superb carrots, with lots of flavour and perfectly cooked (15/20 but the carrots were higher than this).

Apricot tart was genuinely good, with excellent pastry and fruit (17/20), while the butterscotch dessert I briefly tasted also seemed very classy. Lunch came to just $52 (£32) a head before tip, though this was without any alcohol. A real bargain, in my view, for food at this level.