Claiming to be ‘London’s first Bollywood restaurant’, this Covent Garden newcomer occupies the ground floor above a glamorous pan-Asian basement called Tamarai (reviewed here a month or two ago). Sitaaray feels as if it has had to make do with what was left of the building’s floorplan after the other occupants – not least the […]
In this column almost exactly a year ago, we reviewed Les Coulisses, the predecessor of the restaurant we review today. In their old incarnation, these slightly gloomily-located premises at the foot of Broadgate Circle, seemed confused as to whether they were a St Tropez-style bar/nightclub or a restaurant. It was all a bit odd. The […]
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 […]
