“The problem” is not only that it's hard to live up to the level of hype surrounding this Fitzrovia newcomer, but getting a table before September is almost impossible; “there is a temptation to roll your eyes and sigh, ‘it's really not all that’ ”, but the dishes across its short menu are “exceptionally balanced and thought out” and if you do manage to get in, Dabbous “is worth a look”.
AA Gill, The Sunday Times (Rating: Food 3/5, Atmosphere 3/5)
“Simplicity is a virtue” but 10 Greek Street “treads a smudged line” between “simple as in elegant” and “simple as in idiot”; offering “solid, rather than inspired” dishes in a cramped space where “there's not much for your comfort”, Gill wants “a restaurant to have a higher aspiration than to replace what we're not getting at home”.
Lisa Markwell, The Independent on Sunday (Rating: 4/10)
From the revamped interiors to the “heavy influences” from Noma, the new Tom Aikens is “all about fashion”; “style over substance” and “accomplishment in pure technique” prevail, “but wouldn't a better accomplishment be empty plates and happy smiles?”.
“There's lots to be interested in after the ceviche” at this Soho newcomer, with a wide selection of Piscos behind the bar, Peruvian grill specialties and “dessert that vanishes as soon as it hits the table”.
Matthew Norman, The Telegraph (Rating: 4/5 stars)
“A restaurant too good to be allowed to remain an emigrees' hidden treasure a minute longer”, this Bayswater Armenian restaurant, “in the basement of an anonymous Lancaster Gate hotel”, serves dishes worthy of Peter the Great that are “both weird and wonderful in equal measure”.
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