Our expectations on entering this new establishment behind Debenhams were frankly not very high. Its setting – occupying a small block which is otherwise entirely a multi-story car park – is about as uninviting as you’ll find in the West End. The site’s history is not particularly encouraging either. For nearly half a century, it’s […]
It would be easy to dismiss this late-2006 newcomer as a fashion-driven lightweight. Well, for a start, it’s in Notting Hill. And, to make matters worse, it’s linked with the Ignite Group, owners of the Eclipse bar chain and Kate Middleton’s favourite nightclub, Boujis. Finally there the motto – “For city folk who like a […]
In London, your classic mid-range Gallic restaurant is something of a rarity. This may seem an odd thought in a city seemingly awash with cafés, bistros, brasseries – and even the occasional Gallic-run gastropub – but it’s true nonetheless. In London, French restaurants – particularly ‘modern French’ restaurants – remains largely a creature of the […]
What a splendid ‘throwback’ name for an Indian restaurant! But sadly it isn’t. Indian, that is. This East End boozer-conversion – having retained the name by which the site has long been known – is a thoroughly British gastropub. And so we enter a second terminological minefield, as Gordon Ramsay has recently announced that the […]
London-Venetian cooking is not the type you find in those little osteria where the vaporetti-drivers go. It’s usually a pretty darn swanky affair. You don’t get much grander than Mark Birley’s Mayfair club, Harry’s Bar, for example, and Eurotrash-haven Cipriani – a spin-off from the original Harry’s Bar in La Serenissima – has established itself […]
Given that London – as we all know – is the great melting pot of our times, it supports very few European restaurants that fall outside the known and usual French and Italian models. Even Spain – with its diverse regions and cuisines – has few outposts aiming much above the tapas bar level. (And as […]
Adam Byatt is a foodie-world favourite. He first hit the headlines – in a modest way – back in 2002, when his Clapham restaurant Thyme was at the cutting edge of the ‘tasting plate’ revolution. Then – flushed with success – he moved Thyme to Covent Garden. It failed, however, and he subsequently re-launched on […]
You would expect the food at this new converted pub in Chelsea to be good. The ‘Tom’ concerned (Aikens) was after all the youngest ever Briton to win two Michelin stars. Naturally, though, he’s not really doing the cooking at this new backstreet spin-off (around the corner from his foodie temple). That rôle falls to […]
