A quirky Mayfair novelty, this family-owned Georgian restaurant (on the former site of Tempo, RIP) offers a charmingly old-fashioned, if not especially polished, experience, quite at odds with its location. We all have certain expectations of the styling of a new Mayfair restaurant nowadays. So it was a bit of a shock to see the […]
A relaunch of a spacious St James’s business-restaurant of long standing, where the cuisine has now taken on a decidedly American twist; on our lunchtime visit, however, the whole experience seemed surprisingly devoid of character, in spite of the best efforts of the charming staff. We were rather excited to go back to the Avenue, […]
The latest member of Russell Norman’s group of Soho Italian small-plate specialists; although already the recipient of at least one ‘rave’ review, it struck us as fairly unremarkable. Russell Norman, as we all now know, is the very incarnation of the spirit of the age. He is what Sir Terence Conran was to the ’90s, […]
A Gallic/American brasserie from the Novikov stable; it offered solid standards, but at prices that seem to be justified mainly by its Mayfair location. Just a few years ago, Harden’s (somewhat inadvertently) made quite a news splash by pointing out that restaurants at the top of the London market had breached the £100-a-head barrier. How […]
In the heart of Theatreland, a straight-down-the-line gastroboozer from the ever-trendy Polpo people; it may be no special bargain, but standards are consistently good, and the style and location make it a stand-by well worth knowing about. Russell Norman is the man who is, in the popular imagination, responsible for kicking off The Craze Which […]
Handily sited in Soho, a small but jolly Gallic-run bistro, offering tasty dishes of high quality’ but on a small-plate scale, with prices to match. Small plates and good Gallic cooking: does that combination make this new Soho bistro of note? More than you’d think – it’s a combination you don’t find very often. First, […]
Hidden away in Hammersmith, a newcomer seeking to evoke memories of the legendary early-’90s restaurant on the site; it was good-all-round on our early-days visit, but the standards which would once have been exceptional are now relatively commonplace. Hammersmith estate agents have a lot to thank this site for. Over twenty years ago, the founding […]
Handy for Oxford Street, the latest outpost of the Salt Yard empire; it’s a useful enough place, very much in the style of its predecessors, but we couldn’t see it rising to any sort of ‘destination’ status. When you’ve had a string of successful, and in their day somewhat innovative, restaurants – Salt Yard, Dehesa, […]
Brooklyn comes to Soho (again); this diner de luxe is hardly a gastronomic destination, but everything is done well, and the overall level of value is hard to criticise. We’ll not begin by bemoaning the fact that London’s bout of Americophilia shows no sign of abating. We’ll not lament the fact that ‘Brooklyn style’ has […]
Owned (but not too obviously) by the Hotel Chocolat people, a really welcoming Borough Market bar/bistro where everything comes with cocoa, not that you’d really know; we thought this one of the nicest all-rounders we’ve been to for some time. Don’t we all love a ‘backstory’? And the story behind this particular story – or […]
