Two Lights review – this unassuming Clove Club sequel is full of surprises
★★★★☆ / Eclectic

Two Lights review – this unassuming Clove Club sequel is full of surprises

Grouse sausage and a mussels flatbread in Hoxton Update 08/5/2021 – this restaurant has now closed ‘We’ll need the table back in two hours’ is a familiar phrase for restaurant-going Londoners, but is utterly alien to many foreign visitors – especially those from the Continent. For many of our European cousins, the notion of table … Continue reading

Brigadiers review – the City version of Gymkhana smokes and sizzles…
★★★☆☆ / South Asian

Brigadiers review – the City version of Gymkhana smokes and sizzles…

… but the fire is fizzling out. On paper, Brigadiers sounds like a raucous yet soulless Cityboy frathouse. Brigadiers doesn’t just serve Indian-style grilled meats. It serves them in a clubhouse-style setting decorated in a cod British Raj-esque manner. There’s even a room kitted out with a pool table, a TV permanently tuned to Sky … Continue reading

Hide review – the Dabbous sequel that could only have been born in Mayfair
★★★★★ / ★★★☆☆ / Eclectic / Modern European / Modernist

Hide review – the Dabbous sequel that could only have been born in Mayfair

Upstairs, Downstairs and where the two meet There are restaurants where it’s clear that compromises have been made. Whether due to money, time or stress, or some unfortunate combination of all three, a restaurant’s premises, location or menu sometimes aren’t quite what its proprietor and chef would have liked them to be. I’d be very … Continue reading

Sorella review – pivoting from one cuisine to another in hard times
★★★★☆ / Italian

Sorella review – pivoting from one cuisine to another in hard times

The Manor transforms into an Italian It’s tough times for restaurants with household names and independents alike having to close up shop all across the country. Skyrocketing business rates, a continuing staffing shortage, rising wages, intense competition (especially in London) and, in some cases, overaggressive expansion and impatient investors are all playing their part in … Continue reading

Breddos Tacos Soho review – brilliance served with a side of incompetence
★★★★☆ / Eclectic / Mexican

Breddos Tacos Soho review – brilliance served with a side of incompetence

Raffish Clerkenwell Mexican sprouts second branch in Soho Update: 8/02/2018 – added new opening hours A great many things flow through my mind when I’m being ignored at a restaurant, once I become bored with my phone. Will I starve to death in this place, with lunching desk jockeys and freelance debutantes stepping over my … Continue reading

Hoppers review – Sri Lankan restaurant sequel finally takes reservations in Marylebone
★★★★☆ / Sri Lankan

Hoppers review – Sri Lankan restaurant sequel finally takes reservations in Marylebone

Oxford Street’s eating options get a kick in the pants The little patch of shops and restaurants adjacent to Selfridges known as St. Christopher’s Place used to be one of London’s dining out black spots. Full of tourist traps fronted by touts wielding laminated menus either the length of the Bible or full of badly … Continue reading

Temper City review – meat temple sequel takes on curry and poultry
★★★★☆ / Barbecue/BBQ / Eclectic / Steak/chophouse

Temper City review – meat temple sequel takes on curry and poultry

It’s both different from the original Soho Temper and reassuringly similar too Update 25/8/2018 – this restaurant’s menu has changed drastically. It now closely resembles the one at the original Temper Soho. I try not to write too much about the industry goings-on in London’s restaurant scene. Such gossipy navel-gazing is often transient in its importance, … Continue reading