Mercato Metropolitano review – the Southwark street food hall trying to be everything to everyone
★★★★★ / ★★★★☆ / ★★★☆☆ / ★★☆☆☆ / ★☆☆☆☆ / Street food/food court

Mercato Metropolitano review – the Southwark street food hall trying to be everything to everyone

Halfway between Elephant & Castle and London Bridge, but nowhere in particular Updated 30/9/2019 – added reviews of new traders and updated the reviews of Badiani, Duman, Little Sicily and Turkish Garden Updated 16/4/2019 – added hyperlinked table of contents, corrected spelling and grammatical errors The weird thing about street food in London isn’t the … Continue reading

African Queen review – raise your glass to this Hounslow Indian pub
★★★☆☆ / Gastropub / South Asian

African Queen review – raise your glass to this Hounslow Indian pub

Hearty fare for locals and Heathrow travellers alike There are many reasons to hate Heathrow, from the 7am drinkers and the tedious security theatre of dubious utility to the obligatory naff ads for luxury goods and enterprise IT. One of the most hateful things about Heathrow, and indeed many Western airports in general, is the … Continue reading

Silk Road review – Xinjiang noodles and kebabs in Camberwell
★★★☆☆ / Chinese / Chinese Dumplings / Chinese Noodles

Silk Road review – Xinjiang noodles and kebabs in Camberwell

Not all Silk Roads lead to treasure Some restaurants become so totemic and talismanic, that no amount of criticism on my part or anyone else’s is likely to dent their popularity. In London, a town somewhat unfairly pilloried for being expensive to live in, that maxim applies most potently to cheaply priced restaurants. Few sit-down … Continue reading

Master Wei review – masterful noodles that you’ve never heard of…
★★★★☆ / Chinese / Chinese Dumplings / Chinese Noodles / Shaanxi/Xi'an

Master Wei review – masterful noodles that you’ve never heard of…

…and there’s plenty more to enjoy at this Russell Square Shaanxi/Xi’an restaurant Update 18/10/21 – added details of autumn 2021 revisit Opening a new restaurant serving Xi’an food (or Shaanxi food, if you prefer) in the seemingly barren concrete wastes of the Holborn-Bloomsbury-Russell Square hinterland appears bafflingly odd at first glance. Despite being wedged in … Continue reading

Bao and Bing review – Taiwanese street food staggers into Marylebone
★★★☆☆ / Chinese / Taiwanese

Bao and Bing review – Taiwanese street food staggers into Marylebone

Just around the corner from the Chiltern Firehouse, but it’s too little too late London has well and truly fallen for Taiwanese gua bao. From its early days as a street food favourite to the JKS-backed sensation that is Bao, restaurants serving these Taiwanese sandwiches have now opened in farther flung London boroughs such as … Continue reading

Pleasant Lady Jian Bing Trading Stall review – the Chinese crepes full of snap, crackle and spice
★★★★☆ / Chinese

Pleasant Lady Jian Bing Trading Stall review – the Chinese crepes full of snap, crackle and spice

The street food stomach liner every Soho pub goer needs Chinese food has come far in London over the past decade or so, leaving behind the takeaway baggage that still weighs it down elsewhere throughout the country. It’s therefore ironic that one of the most delicious Chinese dishes in the capital is served from what … Continue reading

Din Tai Fung Covent Garden review – people are queuing for hours to order the wrong dish at this dumpling restaurant
★★★☆☆ / Chinese / Chinese Dumplings / Chinese Noodles / Taiwanese

Din Tai Fung Covent Garden review – people are queuing for hours to order the wrong dish at this dumpling restaurant

The biggest restaurant chain you’ve never heard of has opened in central London It should go without saying, but no restaurant is worth queuing for – at least in London or any other metropolis that’s similarly bursting at the seams with other restaurants at your disposal. Queuing for potentially hours on end does nothing but … Continue reading

Burger and Beyond review – there’s more to this Shoreditch restaurant than just burgers
★★★★☆ / Burgers

Burger and Beyond review – there’s more to this Shoreditch restaurant than just burgers

Street food stall settles down in Shoreditch Burger and Beyond’s story sounds like such a throwback from the past, that it’s almost quaint in its retro-ness. This burger stall, a stalwart of street food markets such as Street Feast’s Public Market in Woolwich, has now set up shop in the heart of Shoreditch with plans … Continue reading

Casa Pastor review – the Kings Cross Mexican trying to make diamonds from coal
★★★☆☆ / Mexican

Casa Pastor review – the Kings Cross Mexican trying to make diamonds from coal

But the result is taco zirconium Most restauranteurs would kill to have the premises that Casa Pastor has managed to snag for itself. The handsome Victorian brick-and-iron building near Kings Cross sits in what was once a coal sorting yard – the plainly named Coal Drop Yards – almost literally under the shadow of a … Continue reading

Berenjak review – this JKS restaurant got me hooked on Iranian kebabs
★★★★★ / Iranian

Berenjak review – this JKS restaurant got me hooked on Iranian kebabs

Iranian stews and kebabs in Soho It’s strange to begin a restaurant review by talking about another restaurant, but bear with me for a moment. Some of the best dishes at Brigadiers, an Indian restaurant in the City, were the kebabs which meant it was immediately noticeable when the kebab chef responsible, Kian Samyani, left … Continue reading