Bar Douro review – Portuguese small plates, bar food and tapas
★★★★☆ / Portuguese

Bar Douro review – Portuguese small plates, bar food and tapas

By any other name, this London Bridge railway arch treasure would still be as sweet For a country so beloved by Britain’s middle-class holidaymakers, the food of Portugal has a surprisingly low profile in London. Unless you count the ubiquitous Nando’s (which I don’t), there are surprisingly few Portuguese restaurants in London with most seemingly … Continue reading

Henry’s review – cosy vegetarian dining in the back streets of Bath
★★★☆☆ / Eclectic / Vegetarian

Henry’s review – cosy vegetarian dining in the back streets of Bath

This review of a Bath restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London coverage While it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever become a vegetarian, I have a great deal of sympathy for people who are and want to eat out. While it’s easy to assume that the recent surge in vegetarianism (and veganism) means … Continue reading

Little Duck The Picklery review – the height of summer in the depths of winter
★★★★★ / Eclectic

Little Duck The Picklery review – the height of summer in the depths of winter

Picklery not gimmickry. The sweet life. Keep it sweet. A sweet deal. Sweet as honey. Sweet as pie. Our understandable preoccupation with sweetness and sweet foods is so deeply ingrained that the word itself has become a synonym for all that is desirable and good in the English language. But this has also blinded us, … Continue reading

Bombay Bustle review – the casual Jamavar spin-off stuck at the platform
★★★☆☆ / Indian / South Asian

Bombay Bustle review – the casual Jamavar spin-off stuck at the platform

In this case ‘casual’ means ‘cheaper’. Sort of. It’s always fascinating to see what happens when a lauded, Michelin-starred fine-dining restaurant launches a ‘casual’ spin-off. When Dabbous attempted it, the result was the very different and somewhat odd Barnyard. Both of those restaurants have now closed and, in retrospect, Barnyard felt a somewhat patronising, phoned-in … Continue reading

Foley’s review – a weird but not necessarily wonderful Fitzrovia restaurant
★★★☆☆ / Eclectic

Foley’s review – a weird but not necessarily wonderful Fitzrovia restaurant

Globe-trotting ex-Palomar chef needs to settle down Fusion food is one of those misguided and blingtastically tacky relics of the 1980s that should’ve died long ago along with shoulder pads, the New Romantics and Thatcherism. Foley’s doesn’t serve fusion food, strictly speaking, but its menu does swagger across the globe pulling in ingredients and techniques from … Continue reading

Berber and Q Shawarma Bar review – Exmouth Market gets sit-down kebabs
★★★☆☆ / Eclectic / Lebanese/Jordanian/Levantine

Berber and Q Shawarma Bar review – Exmouth Market gets sit-down kebabs

Middle Eastern BBQ sequel goes back to basics When most restaurants decide to expand by opening new branches, they usually sprout carbon copy clones of the original, try to make each new location different from all the others or try to strike some of middle-ground balance. Berber and Q, the flawed yet generally still superb Middle … Continue reading

Vico review – Italian fast food that thinks it’s opera but is just out of tune
★★★☆☆ / Italian / Pizza

Vico review – Italian fast food that thinks it’s opera but is just out of tune

Cheap (ish) Cambridge Circus cuisine Marketing is a magical thing. It can transform the mundane into something much more wondrous and exotic. Vico, an Italian restaurant that has taken over what used to be the Pizza Hut on the corner of Cambridge Circus and Charing Cross Road, is basically a fast food joint. Or a canteen or cafeteria if … Continue reading

Iberica Marylebone review – chorizo lollipops and dopey service
★★★☆☆ / Spanish / Tapas

Iberica Marylebone review – chorizo lollipops and dopey service

Great Portland Street tapas Restaurant decor in London seems to have fallen into a Shoreditch-inspired rut. Bare light bulbs, reclaimed furniture, exposed concrete and brick walls – I’m bored of it all. The interior of Iberica’s Marylebone branch is therefore a breath of fresh air – both the ground floor and the mezzanine are decorated with … Continue reading