Are restaurant reviewers prone to collective hysteria? This might explain the occasions when a place manages to attract lots of favourable reviews, but turns out – for us, anyway – to be absolutely unremarkable. For most new restaurants, of course, the first goal is to attract any commentary at all. For this, it helps to […]
It’s nearly 20 years since the V&A famously promoted its restaurant under the strap-line ‘An ace caff with quite a nice museum attached’. Sadly, though, that the dining revolution of the intervening time too often passed over arts-venue catering. So despite ‘name’ backing from Oliver Peyton, we approached this new section of the National Gallery […]
We’re always a little dubious when people trot out the old cliché that ‘nine out of ten restaurants fail within a year’. Certainly, if you look at the sort of London restaurants that inspire any sort of critical attention, the evidence suggests that most survive; and for a few years at least. But around the […]
In New York City, the closest equivalent to our own esteemed Gordon Ramsay is Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Each man holds three Michelin stars for his ‘name’ restaurant, and each is the respective city’s highest-profile empire-builder. But whereas Ramsay’s restaurants are usually Michelin-pleasing French, J-G has tried his hand at a whole range of culinary styles, often […]
Even London’s greatest admirer would concede that to eat well on a budget you need to pick carefully. That’s not to say that on a budget of £50 for two, you can’t do well. In fact, if you know where to look, you can eat some of the best Indian or Chinese delicacies in town, […]
A few restaurants are so blindingly good they knock you off your feet. And a few more provoke dire disappointment. But most fall within the great middle band, with how well punters (and critics) react to them often depending on the pre-conceptions they have on arrival. Judging by its name and location, you would probably […]
How quickly Pimlico and Westminster – until recently, an almost totally overlooked zone of central London – is changing. This is never more apparent than on the ten-minute stroll from Victoria station to the newcomer we review today, during which time you are never very far from a building site. On arrival, you find an […]
Why is it impossible to find those cheap mom-and-pop type places, like you might stumble across in an Italian backstreet, where the décor is plain but everything comes from the heart? Well – thanks to a reader – we have. There is a downside, naturally. You have to go to Brockley for it. That bit […]
We were mean-spiritedly looking forward to visiting this re-launched oriental (which was formerly called Sri Thai Soho). A press-scribbler of some note had used his Sunday column to proclaim it beyond dreadful, so we went armed with a full set of critical pencils, razor-sharp. This new establishment was even sibling to a City establishment (Hokkien […]
Nigel Platts-Martin has created a group of restaurants which inspire unequalled customer satisfaction. He has interests not only in ‘Londoners’ favourite restaurant’ – Wandsworth’s Chez Bruce – but also in such stand-outs as Notting Hill’s Ledbury, Chiswick’s Trompette and Kew’s Glasshouse. Apart from the super-swanky Square, in Mayfair, however, all his places are ‘out West’. […]
