Foxtrot Oscar (First major reviews)

Fay Maschler, Evening Standard
Rating: 2/5 stars
“A hang-out no longer, just another soulless, prissy restaurant with uniformed staff who talk to you as if reciting a training manual”. Mrs M is not remotely impressed by Ramsay’s relaunch of this Chelsea institution – she seems to feel this all the more keenly of an establishment which, in the old days, for all its faults, no one could have accused of lacking character.

Jan Moir, areyoureadytoorder.co.uk
“The room is too small, the bill is too big and although the food may be better than it once was, this is a restaurant that has lost its soul in the refurbishment. In catering terms it is a perfect example of how far we have come, how much we have lost and what is really important about dining out.” Ms Moir comes to pretty much exactly the same conclusion as Ms Maschler.


Loong Kee

Fay Maschler, Evening Standard
Rating: 3/5 stars
The critic enjoys her visit to this Shoreditch Vietnamese, which is just the sort of place she would like to have at the bottom of her street.


Alberico at Aspinalls

Marina O’Loughlin, Metro
Rating: 3/5 stars
A report of an enjoyable visit to this opulent Mayfair gaming dive, where the dining room is notionally open to the public, but where prices are such as to “create a virtual guest list”.


The Duke of Wellington

Marina O’Loughlin, Metro
Rating: 4/5 stars
Ms O’M visits a Marybebone newcomer which has “no pretentions” but which “restore[s] [her] faith in the maligned gastropub”. She enjoys a meal “of serious quality”, which is served by young people “who know exactly what they are doing”.


Urban Turban

Guy Dimond, Time Out
Rating: 4/6 stars
In Bayswater, TO’s top man – they claim he’s eaten at over 3000 places in the capital – rhapsodises about Vineet Bhatia’s first stab at a ‘diffusion’ outlet. The “clever melding of flavours”the critic encounters are “what makes Indian food so brilliant”.


Little Lamb

Charmaine Mok, Time Out
Rating: 3/6 stars
A “perfectly competent” Mongolian West End newcomer – in a style that’s been a hit in the US and China, apparently – that’s found to be a “comfortable” place with “friendly” staff. The only problem with the place is that it “shouldn’t pretend that it serves Mongolian food”.