Bloomsbury, International Restaurant Guide

A “useful pitstop for a quick bite while out in the West End” – this food hall at the foot of Centre Point is, say fans, “so much better than similar places where there’s a disorganised queue for food”: here, “you order on your phone from your table, and a waiter brings your food from whichever stall you have picked”. As for the food, “the variety is great” from some high-quality names, “but the quality is less consistent” – and “the noise can be just too much”. Similar feedback too on its year-old, 500-seat sibling at Battersea Power Station, whose 13 different brands “provide great choice but are quite pricey”. Backers the all-conquering JKS Restaurants look like they are onto a commercial winner in both places, but (inevitably?) neither site has lived up to the fooderati hype that’s accompanied both launches.

“Perfect for cheese lovers”: the “quirky and atmospheric” cafés adjoining these excellent retail cheese emporia – particularly the well-known branch in Marylebone – are particularly “good for lunch”, offering cheese and charcuterie boards alongside simple dishes like pan-seared salmon or paté en croute. Top Tip – worth remembering for breakfast.

“Visits from chefs from around the world are a splendid way to try great food at ridiculously low prices”, at this “always fabulous” operation, which has established itself as a fixture of London gastronomy over the past 10 years. They bring their A-game to showcase their best dishes, resulting in some truly “brilliant” and celebratory meals – so it’s always worth taking a chance on something unfamiliar that might “blow you away”. Initially operating in Marylebone, they moved to this new large Fitzrovia site in 2021.

“A six-course themed taster menu, that changes every six weeks!” is the “playful idea” at Nico Simeone’s national chain, whose two London branches (in Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf) are “great for special occasions, but also affordable for a regular monthly meal out to experience the different cuisines”. At such keen prices, it’s unreasonable to expect perfection and most diners acknowledge this: it’s “a clever, and obviously very popular, concept, albeit one where the experience can seem a bit manufactured”; “although it doesn’t always live up to expectations, when you get the right menu everything clicks into place”; so while inevitably it’s “hit and miss, it’s also great value”, and “for a fun evening it does the job well”.

“They order 10 cases of wines on a rotating basis so the wines change regularly” at this “cosy, bustling little venue (recommended by a sommelier friend)”, with “simple French bistro food that’s really well-cooked” and “sunny service to match”. The result is “never a bad meal or a boring glass of wine” – “how they manage to have such a good wine list with such favourable markups in Covent Garden is a puzzle”. And “it’s in the perfect location for the theatre or opera”.