Fitzrovia, Mediterranean Restaurant Guide

“Fun, vibey atmosphere and slick service” are key to the success of this upscale Greek outfit in Fitzrovia (with sister venues in Mykonos and Riyadh), which gets “loud” at busy times – perhaps “too loud”. Owned by Peter Waney, brother of Arjun (Zuma, Roka), it’s “not cheap, but the food is better than you’d think” – “fresh, light and modern”, with “imaginative twists on every dish”.

2021 Review: A “wealth of wines by the glass” and “tasty nibbles”, help make this growing group of self-service wine bars a “fun way to try a selection of vintages from a multitude of small producers”. At the Battersea Power Station branch’s school you can educate your palate towards Wine & Spirit Education Trust certification and watch wine being made from grapes grown in Oxfordshire and Surrey.

2021 Review: “Fun” and fashionable yearling – a glamorous, grown-up, all-day restaurant complete with bar, on the ground floor of ‘private workspace and wellbeing destination’, Mortimer House in Fitzrovia. Its open kitchen is headed by Antonio ‘Lello’ Favuzzi (formerly of leading City Italian, L’Anima) who joined as head chef in February 2019. A versatile choice for many occasions, it is particularly tipped for business. Foodwise, one or two reporters consider the Mediterranean-via-the-Middle-East cuisine a little “average”, but overall it’s consistently decently rated.

With its mix of grown-up comfort food and fashionable styling, Adam White’s Fitzrovia fixture has long been a key destination for “all-day brunch on Saturdays”, and in recent times has added an attractive new sibling at the brutalist Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury (there’s also a related ‘Railhouse’ at Nova in Victoria). Top Menu Tip – “kedgeree to die for”.

“The celeriac shawarma is to die for”: all part of the “fabulous” mélange of Middle Eastern tastes – often “with a focus on vegetables” (‘from root to tip, with a fresh focus on fermentation’) – to be found in the “wonderful sharing plates” served at Yotam Ottolenghi’s Fitzrovia flagship; and it provides “terrific, unusual cocktails” too. As is typical of his restaurant DNA, “you do pay a lot for these tastes” – to the extent that a small but notable minority find it “overrated and quite disappointing” – but most diners consider it “fabulous all-round”.

“A joy!” – paella cooked over a wood fire in the Valencian style, “so drier than some you may have had before” – is the headline attraction at this London outpost from superstar Spanish chef Quique Dacosta. But “sublime starters – beef cheeks, Atlantic squid and pork jowl” also really hit the spot on an “unexpected” menu. The location just off Oxford Street does little to attract custom, although it is a “good place to host in the private dining room”.