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 […]
We always want what we can’t have. As kids, we wanted to be allowed in with the grown-ups. As grown-ups, we want to make it into the VIP lounge. And so on. It’s a mindset that’s well understood by the owners of the Theatreland’s latest hot ticket, Christopher Corbin and Jeremy King. It may be […]
You would expect the food at this new converted pub in Chelsea to be good. The ‘Tom’ concerned (Aikens) was after all the youngest ever Briton to win two Michelin stars. Naturally, though, he’s not really doing the cooking at this new backstreet spin-off (around the corner from his foodie temple). That rôle falls to […]
Let’s start at the end. ‘I see your espresso has arrived before your pudding, so let me get you another one, without charge’. No, not one of Private Eye’s ‘Sights you seldom see’ cartoons, but something a waiter really said at this new brasserie. It may sound too good to be true, but it was […]
For many years, Simone Green ran this Primrose Hill institution with great verve and hospitality. Under subsequent owners, it lost its way, and has recently been re-launched by Vince Power. This ‘Godfather of Gigs’ (his words) made a mint out of his Mean Fiddler group, and has now re-invented himself in the hospitality ‘space’, with […]
Jamie Barber has made his name as a fashionable restaurateur. In spite of mediocre food, his first operation, Hush – with its large bar operation, and its tie-up with Roger Moore’s son, Geoffrey – has become a major hang-out for younger Mayfair money. Not everything he has touched has turned to gold, however. An effort […]
Back in the dark days of the early-’90s, the restaurant at this address – Sri Siam City – blew a breath of fresh air into a dull local dining scene. It offered quality Thai cuisine at good-value prices, and in a handy location too. Ultimately, it formed part of a successful group, Oriental Restaurants. In […]
Lord Foster of Thames Bank, no less, is responsible for the Shoreditch building now occupied by the latest outpost of one of London’s best-known pâtisserie chains. Quite a step from the group’s humble Soho origins in 1926, when Madame Valerie, a Belgian, first began to educate the English in the delights of le croissant. It’s […]
