Theatre critics get free tickets for official openings, and allow previews to pass unappraised. Restaurant criticism offers no such amnesty, with some newspaper reviews now regularly written – explicitly or not – on the basis of previews. The surprise – and, ideally, anonymity – which should characterise a restaurant critic’s presence is therefore often absent. […]
A press announcement arrives, proclaiming the virtues of a new chef at this South Kensington address, which, as Bistrot 190, was a thriving early-’90s scene. More recently, the place has faded from prominence, however, so we ventured along to see if the new man – who has spent the past two years cooking for the […]
London is currently experiencing what is almost certainly the greatest rate of new restaurant openings in its long history. Newcomers seem to arrive not singly, but in waves. For example, the city has only a very few truly English restaurants, but then two new ones (both reviewed earlier this week) have come along at practically […]
In a previous column, we asked whether a rich restaurant scene might perhaps- invisible to the uninitiated – lurk on the Isle of Dogs. ‘I’ve lived there for 18 years’, replied one reader discouragingly, ‘and I haven’t found it’. On a more positive note, there were some concrete suggestions. A number of the more oft-recommended […]
Typical – you wait years for a proper English restaurant to come along, and then two arrive almost at once. Whereas Canteen (reviewed yesterday) arrived pretty much unannounced, however, this Borough Market newcomer- the latest creation of Iqbal Wahab (founder of Westminster’s celebrated Cinnamon Club) – has long been eagerly awaited. Sadly, this particular Roast […]
Even in Paris, many bistros really do serve up ‘cuisine grand-mère’. In England, however, what restaurant would ever think of serving food like granny’s? It would surely be the quickest way to bankruptcy. That is the view the owners of this brand new restaurant – in the pleasant new development around Spitalfields – have set […]
-Please note that this restaurant has now closed as of 19/07/07- The Hon Christopher Gilmour is as copper-bottomed an English gent as you could hope to find. It’s, therefore, perhaps curious that he is the capital’s only multiple operator of quality American-inspired restaurants (the result, apparently, of a decade spent in his youth over the […]
Rebecca Mascarenhas a great London innovator-survivor. Her Sonny’s, in Barnes, may be credited as a mid-’80s fore-runner of the ’90s London restaurant revolution. The name of that establishment may mean little to those who get lost outside Zone 1, but Sonny’s has consistently been hailed by residents of the SWs numbered 13-19 as one of […]
Starting with Le Caprice in 1981, Jeremy King and Christopher Corbin built up one of London’s most impressive restaurant empires of recent times. By the time they finally exited in 2002 – several million pounds richer – the group included no fewer than three of the five most popular restaurants in town (The Ivy, Le […]
Vincent Labeyrie and Pascal Aussignac, the duo behind the fabled Club Gascon, recently relaunched their elegant food shop spin-off (overlooking Smithfield Market) as a bistro. As with their other London ventures, inspiration is taken from the earthy cuisine of South West France. The team originally billed this re-launch as a fairly straightforward bistro, and you […]
