To Eat Like A Girl is an aspiration, not a slight Update 27/10/2019 – added detail that this is a pop-up at Homeboy I’ve been writing about London restaurants for close to a decade now, so I’d like to think I’m at least a passable writer with decent judgment in what you should and shouldn’t … Continue reading
Tag Archives: bacon
Bababoom vs Maison Bab review – new wave kebabs head-to-head
Islington brisket vs Covent Garden celeriac Traditional Turkish kebabs are nigh-on perfect. Whether you prefer shish, kofte, doner, iskender or beyti, the smoke and sizzle of a charcoal mangal is hard to beat. The wisest restauranteurs know better than to attempt ‘elevating’ or ‘refining’ these timeless classics, but instead attempt to put their own personal … Continue reading
Red Farm review – this Chinese restaurant isn’t revolutionary, but it is quietly radical
It’s an import from New York in Covent Garden, but don’t hold that against it Updated 28/1/2019 ‘Red Farm’ sounds like a Maoist agricultural collective where exiled bourgeoise are forced to hunt sparrows as part of their re-education, but it’s actually the name of a Chinese restaurant in Covent Garden. It’s quite unlike any other Chinese … Continue reading
Indian Accent vs Gymkhana review: black pudding naan vs venison biryani
Slumming it in Mayfair for South Asian haute cuisine giggles Update 17/06/2020 – Indian Accent has closed as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic Pitting Gymkhana against Indian Accent seems like such a natural thing to do. Both are pricey high-end Indian restaurants on the same street in Mayfair, located mere yards apart from … Continue reading
The best dishes of 2017 – food that you need in your life
2017 has been an incredibly hectic year for London restaurants, even by the frenetic standards of this city. Despite the closure of some much missed favourites, new restaurants have continued to open at a dizzying and surely unsustainable pace. Some of that has been driven by a modest influx of celebrity chefs from abroad – … Continue reading
Coal Rooms Peckham review – a train station restaurant that isn’t a dreary chain
Plus a beast of a bacon sandwich Salvaging, reusing and repurposing old fittings and furnishings to adorn new restaurants is nothing new; it’s been an ongoing trend in the English-speaking world for at least a decade, if not more. Renovating old buildings, while judiciously paying homage to their original purpose, has received less attention but … Continue reading
Plaquemine Lock review – Creole and Cajun pub food on the Regent’s Canal
The gastropub cousin to Bocca di Lupo Most new restaurants launch in a blaze of publicity glory with press releases spamming inboxes, repetitively woolly social media chatter, oversubscribed launch parties, a Ryanair-style rush for reservations and fawning coverage from all the usual suspects. Plaquemine Lock, the new gastropub from one of the bods behind Soho’s … Continue reading
Red Rooster at The Curtain review – the botched Shoreditch soul food transplant
Live music and a celebrity chef amount to a hill of beans Updated 23/11/20 – this restaurant has now closed I try to avoid mentioning celebrity chefs when writing about their restaurants. Apart from trying to avoid the cult of personality that most newspapers trip over themselves to indulge in, I just don’t think it … Continue reading
Corazon review – Soho Mexican takes a small step forwards
But it’s not the giant leap that London needs Santo Remedio was a startling breath fresh of air. Coming seemingly out of nowhere, that Shoreditch restaurant single-handedly revitalised the state of Mexican food in London with a deftness and depth to its cooking that was true to the mother country and a shining example to … Continue reading
Low, Slow and Juke review – the most hideously disgraceful BBQ in London
Unutterable swear words suppressed The quality of American-style barbecue in London has made leaps and bounds in the past several years, but continual progress is by no means guaranteed. There’s no clearer example of the potential for setting back an entire genre through massive incompetence than Low, Slow and Juke. Owned by pubco Marston’s, this underground … Continue reading