I first visited Manuka Kitchen when it was a fledgling restaurant, so new was the dining area that quite literally the paint was still drying on the walls and some of decoration remained unfinished. A few hardy souls tucked into their food on a dank autumn evening and you worried whether there was a future for this new venture even if the food was damn good and great value.

Turn the clock forward almost three years and Manuka is now a firm favourite with the local crowd in Fulham and beyond and the brave move of Joseph Antippa and Tyler Martin to throw everything they had into the restaurant has paid off.

Building on this success Joseph and Tyler, the Kiwi chef in the partnership, have in the last few weeks opened a second restaurant Salt & Honey, near Marylebone’s Connaught Village, where they are now based leaving their Fulham enterprise in the hands of others.

Now it’s very rare that I return to a place for a second dinner review but there were two reasons for my visit to Manuka on a sultry summer’s evening. One was to see if it still delivered in the ‘absence’ of its two founders and secondly to finally keep a promise and put my neck on the line by taking a friend to ‘this great little restaurant in Fulham,’ which is just a few hundred yards from the hub bub of The Broadway.

In terms of appearance nothing much has changed since those early days; the décor is fairly minimalist, the dining area cosy and comfortable (there is room for about 30) although a downstairs cocktail bar has been added. The menu has expanded but is still attractively concise and offers decent value for money.

The starter of bone marrow and saffron arancini (£4.50) has always been a firm favourite with the Manuka crowd and my dining companion Sarah was tempted by them. The coating was crispy and the filling light and flavours subtle but, she felt a bit more of a bone marrow hit would have elevated them further.

My starter of three pan fried scallops (£8.50) with cauliflower puree and truffle honey was a lovely tasting combination of clean flavours but unfortunately the rather small scallops looked like someone had sat on them and appeared rather sad in the large serving bowl – I wanted a bit more bang for my buck.

Sarah’s special of pork belly (£16.50) was cooked to perfection with a lovely crisp skin sitting on top of the fatty white meat and the dish was further lifted by its earthy accompaniments of puy lentils and mushrooms, which sat well with the meat.

My main of well delivered sea bream (£15.50) came with a delicious truffle mash, oyster mushrooms, clams, chives and hazelnut pesto which all worked brilliantly together. We also enjoyed a bottle of the wonderfully named Hooley Dooley (£23.50) a big bold Aussie red that went down well.

We could not leave without testing out the puds and they did not disappoint. My salted caramel panna cotta (£4), with some clever little extras, was perfectly executed while Sarah indulged in her rich dark chocolate tart (£6.50) with peanut butter and a pretzel base with gay abandon.

Manuka Kitchen is still a ‘great little restaurant’ and apart from a few minor errors on the night the food was pretty much spot on and I will look forward to testing out its new sister establishment Salt & Honey in the very near future.

Manuka Kitchen, 510 Fulham Road, Fulham, SW6 5NJ - 020 7736 7588