Reinvigorated by refurbishment, this long-established, good-but-pricey Indian looks set to hold its own in a corner of Soho that’s becoming ever more trendy. The rather lugubrious start to 2010 for new restaurant openings has been partially offset by a number of top-end relaunches. We’ve recently reviewed The Capital (new chef), and Benares (refitted after a […]
Under its new chef, this well-established Knightsbridge dining room could well regain its former greatness; our lunchtime visit, however, suffered from a portion control some might have thought excessive. Ping! An email arrives from a leading PR firm, suggesting we review a restaurant that’s just (in one fell swoop) managed the rare achievement of losing […]
Recently refurbished, a classic airy West End ‘business’ restaurant whose new formula should now give it somewhat broader appeal. After a month’s refurbishment, this airy St James’s restaurant recently opened with tarted-up décor (in much the same style as before), as well as a new chef and a new menu ‘concept’. It’s perhaps a blessing […]
Re-opened after a four-month refurbishment, this Mayfair Indian looks broadly as before, and still offers refined Indian cuisine (presented European-style) in a smart environment; it’s noisy, though, and the atmosphere can tend to impersonal. The re-opening of Atul Kochhar’s celebrated Mayfair Indian – after a four-month closure, following on a fire – provided a good […]
On the Pimlico/Belgravia fringe site formerly called Vivezza (RIP), an English restaurant where the food is often well cooked, but where prices seem unjustified by either the cuisine or the level of comfort. A restaurateur opening new premises never has a blank sheet of paper. He can’t do much about the size and shape of […]
A less pricey successor to the wacky Ambassade de L’Ile; it’s a great improvement all round, but in current conditions the style is still perhaps touch too chicly-Gallic and upmarket, even for South Kensington. L’Ambassade de L’Ile was a great exercise in value destruction. Huge amounts of money (some £2m) were spent to convert the […]
An intimate St James’s hotel dining room – now home to William Drabble, Ramsay’s successor at Aubergine – that’s attracted much press praise; our lunchtime visit, however, was underwhelming. Perhaps we’re just feeling unseasonally grumpy, or maybe we’ve been serially unlucky, but this new St James’s fine dining room is the second restaurant we’ve visited […]
In a hugely handy St James’s location, a Gallic brasserie where the cooking – if not, necessarily, the service – seems to be flourishing under the new independent ownership. Our lunchtime visit to this St James’s brasserie – recently bought out by the on-site management – offered an interesting opportunity for a comparison with a […]
In the heart of Soho, a clubby Soho House group dining room serving simple English food realised to a consistently high standard; a first-day visit found an establishment already remarkably well into its swing. How does Richard Caring do it? As restaurant groups get bigger, there is – nearly two decades of Harden’s research suggests […]
An Italian successor to Fitzrovia’s Passione (RIP), offering interesting dishes – often with a Sicilian twist – in unadorned surroundings; charming service makes this an establishment it’s very hard not to like, but the realisation of dishes on our visit was a little up-and-down. Drawn by a rave review elsewhere, we hastened along to the […]
