There’s a simplicity and a familiarity to the food at this smart city laneway eatery. It’s reminiscent of the type of food you grew up with, but only if your mum was a darn good cook.

Take crumbed lamb cutlets, for example, the meaty drumsticks as basic as they get on a simple bed of mustard-tossed cabbage – homely and comforting. Or perhaps even more obviously in a dessert of bread and butter pudding – the custardy mix a modest and uncomplicated classic served in the type of ramekin your mum inherited from her mother.

The tight, share-style menu is not entirely sans restaurant extravagance, though, with a herbed gnocchi pillow-like in its execution and crowned with a wedge of grilled witlof and shavings of Spanish Manchego cheese; or a crab risotto, heady with garlic and boasting just enough chilli to keep that spoon returning to the bowl for more.

The service is also homely, but more like your silent, brooding, teenage brother being asked to clear the table. It’s efficient and knowledgeable but lacks warmth.

The space, however, certainly does not. Dimly lit with a Scandi-meets-industrial vibe, it’s unpretentious and effortlessly cool – much like the worldly drinks list with a must-read section titled “Reserve, vintage, obscure”.

The Survey Co.’s menu states “this is the food we like to eat” and its laidback yet thoughtful approach makes for food others would like to eat, too.

Must eat dish: Crab risotto
Instagram: @thesurveyco