Just off Carnaby Street, an amiable bistro (on the former site of Benja, RIP), offering a top-value steak/frites formula in a tightly-packed communal setting surprisingly evocative of Old Soho. The name nearly put us off checking out this new bistro, just off Carnaby Street. Yet another hommage à Downtown NYC? And, to make it worse, […]
On the eastern fringe of Covent Garden, a smart basement Japanese restaurant with a rather corporate atmosphere and quite high prices (especially on the wine front); for business entertainment, though, it has its attractions, and the lunch menu is a value-proposition well worth seeking out. Notably friendly staff are one of the attractions of this […]
From Alan Yau/the Busaba Eathai team, a striking prototype, by Angel tube, for a contemporary-style Thai chain; on our early-days visit, we found we could add to the chorus of approval that has greeted its arrival. Someone explained to us recently that a lot of what we at Harden’s do is not reviewing at all. […]
Farringdon’s famous ‘working class caterer’ rises yet again, offering a direct English menu in a tightly packed ‘pew-seating’ dining room – an early days visit found a simple but effective formula, offered at very reasonable prices. Let’s start by getting the benches out of the way. This Victorian ‘working class caterer’ has always been most […]
Get thee to the Tower! – if you’re looking for a sunny day lunch destination, you could do very much worse than this surprisingly low-kew ‘tourist’ lunch spot, by the Thames. The very idea of tourist-catering chills the blood, so we approached this appallingly-named newcomer – which overlooks the walkway ‘twixt Thames and Tower – […]
The former Oriel (RIP) site on Sloane Square, relaunched by ‘the Wolseley boys’ as an immediately-successful Gallic brasserie of a high standard; service, though, was decidedly slow, on our visit a few weeks after opening. Earl Cadogan does not believe in ‘absentee’ landlord-ism. Oriel, the former occupant of this prominent Sloane Square site, had the […]
Near Notting Hill Gate, on the site long known as The Ark (RIP), an unpretentious bistro offering a small-plates formula, and already exerting a wide-ranging appeal. Since 1962, this funny little building near Notting Hill Gate – for most of that period called ‘The Ark’ – has been well-known as a restaurant destination and, especially […]
North of Liverpool Street, an understated (to a fault) bar/restaurant offering the cuisine of Kyoto; despite the best efforts of the charming staff, and the beautiful presentation of the dishes, our early-days lunch was very dull. We were rather excited by the idea of Chrysan – the first non-Hakkasan-branded outlet of the group founded by […]
The fourth member of Belgravia’s own Italian restaurant group; on our visit, steak and service were highlights of an experience that was otherwise rather lacklustre. Within living memory, Belgravia didn’t really exist. It was known more as ‘Knightsbridge’ to the north, and ‘Victoria’ to the south, possibly with a bit of ‘Pimlico’ thrown in to […]
