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 […]
Back in 1979, with a civil war raging back home, chef Marouf Abouzaki arrived in London from Lebanon. He soon set up the first Maroush, in Edgware Road and since then his stable of establishments has grown pretty steadily. There are now half a dozen Maroushes proper, and roughly the same again of spin-off brands […]
The 1995 opening of The Westbourne – on the Bayswater fringe of Notting Hill – was part of the process that eventually made the ‘Hill’ a synonym for a certain type of ‘hip’. ‘Gastropubs’ were a new idea – the term was not even in use then – and the combination of good food to […]
The Hoxton hotel or, as they call it ‘urban lodge’. Sounds cool, huh? Edgy. Alternative. Young British Artists (YBAs) hanging. That sort of thing. In fact, the hotel is the latest idea from Sinclair Beecham – half the duo who originally brought you Pret A Manger. And if you could imagine London’s leading sandwich chain […]
Initial impressions of the latest re-working of this nicely obscure site, just off Regent Street, are upbeat. Its brick-walled dining room feels as much SoHo NYC as Soho W1. Thereafter, however, our experience was all downhill. Take the menu selection. What initially looks like a fairly standard brasserie affair, is actually oddly divided into small […]
Westminster – in the strict sense of the area around the Abbey – has traditionally been home to the back offices of church and state, plus a surprisingly large number of flats for what used to be called the working classes. It doesn’t sound like fertile restaurant-territory, and it isn’t. The past few years, though, […]
Retro seems to be coming back into fashion in the world of dining out. One aspect is a renewed interest in French cuisine in general, and old-style Gallic restaurants in particular. Another throwback is the resurgence of the supper club, of which recent examples, down Piccadilly way, include the Cuckoo and Pigalle clubs. Apart from […]
