A contemporary-style update of a traditional Knightsbridge Italian; a good quality, if pricey, all-rounder, where service can sometimes seem jarringly formal. In a city without much in the way of living restaurant history, ‘Chelsea Italian’ is one of the few styles you could write a whole book about. In fact, someone did – it’s called […]
In the heart of Shoreditch, a surprisingly straight-down-the-line chicken shop, offering a good range of glazes and dips, without affectation. Given the street-credible location – actually under a railway bridge – what’s remarkable about this Shoreditch newcomer is how it’s really not trying that hard to be hip. Remarkably, no one has bothered trying to […]
In an up-and-coming part of Bayswater, a seemingly informal Japanese izakaya (tavern) where an ex-Nobu chef offers quirky and high quality dishes, at prices to match. It’s touted as a simple Japanese izakaya (tavern), and this hard-edged, bare-filament-bulb-lit room could indeed be described in some senses as ‘basic’. The informality of the service, too, is […]
Ollie Dabbous’s number two restaurant offers an approachable small-plate menu, often realised to a very high standard, at reasonable prices; the ambience is comfortable enough, though – for Fitzrovia – it does strive rather hard to be hip. Dried flower arrangements. How achingly ‘now’. And how very 1964 too, as you can see at Pimlico […]
Near Camden Lock, an edgy-but-smart American bar/diner de luxe; it offers good standards across the board, but not – to our mind – any particular reason to seek the place out. Visit the website for this anonymously-named American-style grill-restaurant, and what are you supposed to think? Edgy? Anarchic? Very, well, Camden Town? Or, if a […]
A grand Kensington brasserie on the former site of Zaika (RIP); it was already firing on all cylinders on our first-week visit. Goodness Gracious Me! Remember the TV skit where some Indians (in India) speculate on the virtues of ‘going out for an English’? Perhaps it planted a seed in the mind of someone at […]
A pretty (but quite noisy) pub dining room, right by Borough tube, offering an enjoyable menu that’s not especially ambitious, but interesting enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. The dining room of the Trinity public house, next door to Borough tube station, has recently been relaunched with its own name and its own identity. Be aware, […]
A quirky Mayfair novelty, this family-owned Georgian restaurant (on the former site of Tempo, RIP) offers a charmingly old-fashioned, if not especially polished, experience, quite at odds with its location. We all have certain expectations of the styling of a new Mayfair restaurant nowadays. So it was a bit of a shock to see the […]
A relaunch of a spacious St James’s business-restaurant of long standing, where the cuisine has now taken on a decidedly American twist; on our lunchtime visit, however, the whole experience seemed surprisingly devoid of character, in spite of the best efforts of the charming staff. We were rather excited to go back to the Avenue, […]
The latest member of Russell Norman’s group of Soho Italian small-plate specialists; although already the recipient of at least one ‘rave’ review, it struck us as fairly unremarkable. Russell Norman, as we all now know, is the very incarnation of the spirit of the age. He is what Sir Terence Conran was to the ’90s, […]
