Surprisingly true in spirit to the original establishment of the same name, this Brompton bistro offers basic nosh for not much dosh – it’s already very busy. The old Chelsea Kitchen – on the King’s Road, not far from Sloane Square – was a true Chelsea institution. This had nothing to do with the food, […]
In a quiet part of Islington, an elegant Georgian boozer recently relaunched with gastro-ambitions; the straightforward English food is the weakest part of a ‘package’ which, overall, offers good value. It’s very difficult not to like this handsome pub, which is both spiritually and physically well removed from the tawdry delights of Islington’s Upper Street. […]
Just off Oxford Street, this North Soho chippy makes a plainly elegant destination for classic fish ‘n’ chips; the post-3pm menu offers particularly good value. Full marks for descriptive brevity. And the name does not lie, either. This north Soho newcomer is perhaps the best attempt so far to update the traditional chippy concept without […]
Lacking the sense of excitement implied by the name, this South Bank wine bar is perhaps of most note for offering free Mediterranean-style nibbles to early-evening drinkers. The rather intriguing name drew us to this South Bank newcomer, near Blackfriars Bridge. It turns out that it’s a handy enough destination if you should find yourself […]
In the vast Marylebone hotel, a luxurious but entirely uninspired new restaurant, where the prices suffer from delusions of grandeur. Beware: it is impossible for the horrible, loud and inapproriate music to be turned down in the new dining room at this hotel near Marylebone Station. Not difficult, impossible. Well, not unless you’re going to […]
An haute-cuisine bistro (plus fine dining room) on the Smithfield site which was formerly Vic Naylor’s (RIP), where chef/patron Bjorn van der Horst’s largely classic Gallic cuisine is realised to a very high standard; whether the ‘formula’ is quite right, however, we’re not so sure. Bjorn van der Horst is just the sort of chef/patron […]
A plain but quite charming Scandinavian restaurant, hard by South Kensington tube; we found the food unexciting, but of generally good quality. Urged on by a rave review elsewhere, we finally got around to visiting this Scandinavian restaurant, which opened a few months ago, just over the road from South Kensington tube station. We’re glad […]
A Chinese ‘tapas’ bar, in a calming Soho setting that feels like a Japanese tea house – the concept may be unusual, but this offshoot of the famous Bar Shu is already making quite a name for the quality of its interesting light-bite cuisine. There’s usually a strong fellow feeling between two restaurants under common […]
In Earl’s Court – an area lacking in gastropubs – a conversion of the former Coleherne public house, which attracts a good following in spite of offering food that tends to incidental. Earl’s Court – birthplace, as it happens, of Harden’s – is not the place it was. Much colour used to be provided by […]
A small and tightly-packed East End dining room, entered via an art gallery, where Maria Elia (who has a bit of a name, from her time at the Delfina Studio Café) cooks up food of proper restaurant quality. London’s galleries and museums tend to offer little of interest on the food front. Part of the […]
