So popular, it needs its own doorman The oddly-named Social Eating House is the latest restaurant in Jason Atherton’s empire and it’s not quite as expensive as Atherton’s flagship Pollen Street Social. Whereas Pollen Street Social has a muted, inoffensive decor suited to its Mayfair location, the Soho-based Social Eating House is a tad more … Continue reading »
Suits you or just for suits? Hakkasan was one of the restaurants that helped foster the idea that Chinese food in London wasn’t just greasy take away fare. HKK is a new City spin-off of the Soho original, but with an emphasis on expensive tasting menus that befits its location in the shadow of capitalism’s … Continue reading »
A travelogue where I eat myself stupid while the locals gawp and stare I could bore myself to tears writing about Taiwan – the landscapes, the cities and the people are, respectively, awe-inspiring, terrifying and fascinatingly peculiar. Taiwan’s food culture is a complex, wonderful thing with cuisines from all over mainland China crowded together on … Continue reading »
Small bites at high prices More restaurants than ever are opening in Soho despite the relative scarcity of real estate and Tapasia is one of the newest. This small bar and restaurant, located on bustling Old Compton Street, serves up Asian-inspired tapas which isn’t as strange as it first sounds. Chinese dim sum and Spanish … Continue reading »
A Mexican restaurant of two halves As my fellow restaurant blogger 31_75 pointed out recently, in his own inimitable style, there are very few good Mexican restaurants in London. The situation isn’t nearly as bad as it was two decades ago when all we had were horrid Tex-Mex dives like Chiquito, but it’s still far from … Continue reading »
Who says vegetarian food has to be boring? I’ve shamefully neglected to cover vegetarian restaurants on this blog despite the fact that two of my most trusted dining companions, The Flame Haired Squelchie and The Prancing Hippy, are vegetarians. That’s easy enough to rectify though as London has a respectable selection of vegetarian eateries, including Orchard, … Continue reading »
Tom Aikens Restaurant’s casual little brother I love fine dining and the meal I had at Tom Aikens Restaurant was one of the best of its kind. Sometimes though I’m just not in the mood for fancy food, but Tom Aikens has that covered too. Tom’s Kitchen is a much more casual and affordable sister restaurant … Continue reading »
Having eaten my way through almost the entire menu, is this domiciled food truck really a bountiful BBQ bonanza? Pitt Cue is a new barbecue restaurant in Soho, just around the corner from Carnaby Street, but it originally started out as a truck underneath Hungerford Bridge on the South Bank. Despite these humble origins, the … Continue reading »
Fine dining in relaxed surroundings or how to begin your week with a ten-course tasting menu There’s no shortage of expensive restaurants in Kensington and Chelsea, which isn’t surprising given the affluent locals. High prices are no guarantee of quality though, so I was fully prepared for an evening of disappointment at the simply named … Continue reading »
How To Bust Your Gut in One Easy Sitting Despite some of the massive meals I’ve eaten in the course of writing this blog, there have been very, very few where I’ve ordered too much. The Breakfast for Two at the Guildhall branch of Hawksmoor is one of these gut busting meals and was so … Continue reading »
