Mackerel Sky review – this seafood bar achieves lift-off, but doesn’t quite soar
★★★☆☆ / Seafood

Mackerel Sky review – this seafood bar achieves lift-off, but doesn’t quite soar

This review of a Newlyn/Penzance restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage. For an island nation, the UK is collectively quite neurotic about what it does and doesn’t eat. Despite the prominence of fisheries in the UK’s increasingly bitter relations with its continental neighbours, we’re a surprisingly seafood-averse bunch. In 2017, … Continue reading

Flor review – Lyle’s does British tapas in Borough Market
★★★☆☆ / Eclectic / Modern European / Modernist

Flor review – Lyle’s does British tapas in Borough Market

Small plates don’t always lead to big rewards Update 31/01/2022 – this restaurant has now closed There’s no shortage of places in London to graze on small tapas-sized plates while guzzling wine, places where the list of liver-annihilating beverages is several times longer than the menu, especially around London Bridge and Borough Market. To the … Continue reading

Temper Covent Garden review – bafflingly odd pizza that breaks all the rules
★★★☆☆ / Pizza

Temper Covent Garden review – bafflingly odd pizza that breaks all the rules

This carnivorous threequel even serves vegan pizzas While the menus of some eateries seem to have been designed by committees and focus groups, the Temper group of restaurants has never like that. Each restaurant’s focus on smoked or grilled meats and a fresh spin on familiar ways of serving them – whether it’s tacos or … Continue reading

Sparrow review – eating out takes flight in Lewisham
★★★★☆ / Eclectic

Sparrow review – eating out takes flight in Lewisham

A southeast London restaurant worth getting excited about The idea that southeast London is a gastronomic desert bereft of anywhere good to eat out is a long-held canard. Although somewhat overstated, especially in boroughs with relative wealth and proximity to Zone 1, there is an element of truth to it. With the locals spending the … Continue reading

Café Monico review – vaguely French brasserie is less grand and more grandiosely shallow
★★★☆☆ / Eclectic / French

Café Monico review – vaguely French brasserie is less grand and more grandiosely shallow

Corbin and King have nothing to worry about Update 24/4/2021 – this restaurant has now closed What’s old is new again. This phrase comes to mind when witnessing the resurgence in appreciation of the grand French/continental-style brasseries that now crop up occasionally in London’s wealthier neighbourhoods. Once seen as fusty, the best of these brasseries … Continue reading