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Restaurants du jour
The return of one of the top London chefs of the ’90s, now ensconced in the bright corner dining room of a trendy Shoreditch hotel. Now widely reviewed and instantly approved by leading bloggers Dos Hermanos and ourselves – and looking a dead cert to become quite a ‘rave’. Not too pricey either.
Reviewed with approval by the Evening Standard, the Telegraph and Harden’s, an unremarkable-looking Fulham restaurant that’s being put firmly on the map thanks to the cooking of Ramsay protégée Gemma Tuley.
The latest, clubby venture from the media-friendly Soho House group continues to be a major hit with almost all the reviewers. (Slightly, to our mind, beyond the point of reason.)
The new Soho venture from media/art world darling Mark Hix (ex-Caprice group) similarly continuing to attract a lot of media attention.
Not far away from Hix, and run by another Caprice alumnus (Russell Norman), a cosy and useful Venice-meets-Greenwich Village outfit, which remains something of a ‘scene’.
A Chinatown Sichuanese getting a bit of a following among the reviewers, and the recent recipient of a ‘rave’ in the Times. Can’t help feeling it’s being over-egged, though (1000-year-old or otherwise).
Also of note
Just off Kensington High Street, a grand new bistro where Philip Howard (star chef of the Square W1) masterminds the food – undoubted value, but there are some reservations about the atmosphere.
Mega-popular Gallic bistro near Charing Cross, in the news for recently opening a more spacious basement dining room. Since a further flurry of attention on receipt of a Michelin 'bib' (plus a very positive Times review), it’s sometimes quite difficult to book.
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