A former banking hall, recently re-relaunched as a bar and restaurant; in spite of cooking that’s good value – especially by St James’s standards – we find an overall lack of character that makes the place very difficult to warm to. Banking halls can be tricky places to turn into restaurants. On the one hand, […]
A North Kensington Mexican, just north of the Westway, with good food and notably friendly service; it’s a useful spot – open all day at weekends – but the kitchen can sometimes be irritatingly slow. We’re all so accustomed to the idea that Mexican food is just some sort of ‘filler’ that the standards of […]
A boon for Waterloo travellers and South Bank culture-vultures – a modestly-priced bar restaurant, where an ex Gordon Ramsay group chef dishes up simple but satisfying fare at notably keen prices; this is a provisional review, though, as we’re told that the formula is set to see major changes as the new régime settles in. […]
A large and bright brassserie-style Battersea spot, offering a straightforward menu generally realised to a good standard; we enjoyed our visit, but wondered if it was on the pricey side for a venue constrained by its location to ‘local’ status. We didn’t get any particular feeling that we were Crossing Delancey as we approached this […]
Near Finsbury Square, a trendy club dining room that welcomes outsiders for lunch and dinner, and makes a congenial place for a friends’ rendezvous; the food has no great ambitions, but it is competently realised, and complemented by an interesting range of New World wines. We don’t usually review clubs, but this one opens its […]
The main dining room of the revamped St Pancras Station; our (very) early-days visit found an unusually glamorous room and welcoming service, as well as food – from a long and varied menu – of some promise. There’s some dispute as to when is the ‘right’ time to review a restaurant. Like many discussions about […]
From the same backers as Chelsea’s excellent The Painted Heron SW10, an exemplary contemporary-style budget Indian, by Waterloo Station. Before we visited this excellent new Indian by Waterloo Station, we weren’t aware that it was a spin-off of the excellent The Painted Heron in Chelsea. Once you know that, however, everything become clear. Like its […]
Off the Embankment, near the Savoy, a vast new pan-Asian bar/restaurant, modelled on (and run by the same team as) the original Paris establishment of the same name; on our early-dog-days-of-August visit it was not yet buzzing, but showed much potential as a romantic/party venue. They claim that the original Paris Buddha Bar – tucked-away […]
A stylish and buzzy Hoxton spot, with good cocktails and a buzzy atmosphere, but where the vegan fare is a decidedly acquired taste. ‘How about a trip to Hoxton’, we said to our friends, brightly. ‘There’s this new, er, vegan restaurant we’d like to check out. And they pride themselves of barely cooking much of […]
A case-study in ‘how not to do a restaurant opening’ (and that was leaving aside the ultra-mean portions); the design of this City newcomer is great, but is the current environment going to be receptive to this ostentatious spin-off from a West End original that was never such a ‘rave’ in the first place? How […]
