Near Trafalgar Square, a stylish and welcoming offshoot of a Barcelona tapas bar/restaurant – particularly handy in a part of Theatreland where many establishments are still grimly impersonal. Anyone going to the theatre in the vicinity of the Haymarket still has a pretty unappealing lot of restaurants to contend with, so all hail to this […]
Hidden-away in Bayswater, John Burton-Race’s new restaurant offers quite a traditional formula which, our early-days visit suggests, is done well enough to be worth seeking out. There were a number of reasons we expected not to like this Bayswater newcomer. Most obviously, it is the creature of a ‘TV chef’ (John Burton-Race). It also takes […]
A supposedly informal revamp of Marcus Wareing’s grand Knightsbridge hotel dining room; the food on our lunchtime visit was enjoyable and quite good value, but the style of service remains as fundamentally ancien-régime as ever, and some may find the atmosphere oppressive. Marcus is the new name for Marcus Wareing. Not the man of course, […]
A contemporary-style update of a traditional Knightsbridge Italian; a good quality, if pricey, all-rounder, where service can sometimes seem jarringly formal. In a city without much in the way of living restaurant history, ‘Chelsea Italian’ is one of the few styles you could write a whole book about. In fact, someone did – it’s called […]
In the heart of Shoreditch, a surprisingly straight-down-the-line chicken shop, offering a good range of glazes and dips, without affectation. Given the street-credible location – actually under a railway bridge – what’s remarkable about this Shoreditch newcomer is how it’s really not trying that hard to be hip. Remarkably, no one has bothered trying to […]
In an up-and-coming part of Bayswater, a seemingly informal Japanese izakaya (tavern) where an ex-Nobu chef offers quirky and high quality dishes, at prices to match. It’s touted as a simple Japanese izakaya (tavern), and this hard-edged, bare-filament-bulb-lit room could indeed be described in some senses as ‘basic’. The informality of the service, too, is […]
Ollie Dabbous’s number two restaurant offers an approachable small-plate menu, often realised to a very high standard, at reasonable prices; the ambience is comfortable enough, though – for Fitzrovia – it does strive rather hard to be hip. Dried flower arrangements. How achingly ‘now’. And how very 1964 too, as you can see at Pimlico […]
Near Camden Lock, an edgy-but-smart American bar/diner de luxe; it offers good standards across the board, but not – to our mind – any particular reason to seek the place out. Visit the website for this anonymously-named American-style grill-restaurant, and what are you supposed to think? Edgy? Anarchic? Very, well, Camden Town? Or, if a […]
A grand Kensington brasserie on the former site of Zaika (RIP); it was already firing on all cylinders on our first-week visit. Goodness Gracious Me! Remember the TV skit where some Indians (in India) speculate on the virtues of ‘going out for an English’? Perhaps it planted a seed in the mind of someone at […]
A pretty (but quite noisy) pub dining room, right by Borough tube, offering an enjoyable menu that’s not especially ambitious, but interesting enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. The dining room of the Trinity public house, next door to Borough tube station, has recently been relaunched with its own name and its own identity. Be aware, […]
