As a general rule, heritage-themed restaurants (especially ones in hotels) are best given a miss. So whoever decided to use the name ‘Langtry’s’ for the new dining room of the Cadogan Hotel (after Lillie Langtry, who once lived here) needs a good talking to. It’s not a name that inspires confidence, especially for a dining […]
The signs were not good. From Tamarai’s web site I learnt that “Like the lotus flower’ the venue transforms into magical moods and multiple modes at different times. Designed as a hybrid hub it ‘ re-invents itself seamlessly”. When somewhere’s home page reads like an entry in Private Eye’s ‘Pseud’s Corner’, the cooking is seldom […]
It has not always proved a recipe for long-term success, but even Oliver Peyton’s most vociferous critics would concede he is one of our most progressive restaurateurs. All the more interesting, then, that, for his latest cultural-centre dining destination, his concept is the old-fashioned, no-nonsense Gallic brasserie. Certain physical constraints arise from locating the brasserie […]
Not everyone loves celeb chef Antony Worral Thompson. Gordon Ramsay, for example, once branded him a Teletubby, as distinct from a serious chef (such as himself). But it’s hard not to have some sneaking admiration for someone who combines seemingly limitless energy for self-promotion with evident talent. For example, before his Ready Steady Cook days, […]
Just over a year ago, we reviewed Nababbo, the Italian restaurant which then occupied this handily-located basement site, below Leadenhall Market. The upshot of our review was that it wasn’t a bad restaurant, but overpriced to the point that no one would rationally ever spend their own money there. Fairly soon afterwards, Nababbo was history […]
On Tuesday, we reviewed L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon – a concept new to London from one of the grand old men of French gastronomy. Today we to to Paris, to compare the newcomer to what’s sometimes regarded as that city’s quintessential grand old-style bistro. Until recently, the venerable Benoit (established 1912) was owned by its […]
Regular readers may have picked up that we have a fondness for useful restaurants. Finding them, though, isn’t as simple as it might seem. Firstly, they should also be in a handy location. Secondly, they should offer food of dependable quality. Thirdly, they should be sensibly priced for those spending their own money. Perhaps most […]
Margaret Thatcher may have abolished the GLC, but County Hall, its Edwardian Baroque former home, has proved more durable. The building now houses both a hotel and an aquarium, as well as other leisure ‘attractions’. These have never included a restaurant of any note. The site reviewed today – in a former banqueting suite – […]
The mainly black upstairs dining room of Joël Robuchon’s new London ‘workshop’ – accented with white tiles, pepper pots and bric-Ã -brac – is oddly reminiscent of an early PizzaExpress. There are differences of course. Few chain outlets, for example, try to get away with tables quite as small as those at this outpost of one […]
