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

Red Farm review – this Chinese restaurant isn’t revolutionary, but it is quietly radical
★★★★☆ / Chinese / Chinese Dumplings / Chinese Noodles

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

1251 review – this Islington restaurant is trying to make a name for itself…
★★★☆☆ / Eclectic / Modern European / Modernist

1251 review – this Islington restaurant is trying to make a name for itself…

… but is coming up short. Names can be many things. A descriptive label, a pigeonhole, a statement of intent. It’s therefore striking that Islington restaurant 1251 has such an easily forgotten, easily misremembered name. It may have some significance to someone behind the scenes, especially in light of the fact that chef James Cochran … 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

Kyseri review – this Oklava sequel packs big flavours into a cosy space
★★★★☆ / Turkish

Kyseri review – this Oklava sequel packs big flavours into a cosy space

The modern Turkish restaurant that’s far too good for Fitzrovia’s backstreets Update 29/12/2019 – this restaurant has now closed Although I only spent a day in the modern, nondescript Turkish city of Kayseri a few years back, the mere mention of this central Anatolian metropolis is enough to bring back fond memories. The city’s mod … 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

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

Machi-ya review – Kanada-ya spin-off does Japanese comfort food
★★★☆☆ / Japanese / Japanese Noodles

Machi-ya review – Kanada-ya spin-off does Japanese comfort food

A review from someone who can tell the difference between chicken and pork tonkatsu Machi-ya is an odd name for a Japanese restaurant. A machiya is a traditional Japanese house that can be very atmospheric and are thus increasingly popular with tourists visiting Japan. Indeed, I briefly considered staying in one during my trip to Kyoto … Continue reading

Holborn Dining Room review – the Instagram pie phenomenon
★★★★☆ / British

Holborn Dining Room review – the Instagram pie phenomenon

Aye for pie with an eye for pie One should never, ever underestimate the importance of how food looks. Attractive-looking food not only influences how we perceive its taste, but can get otherwise disinterested punters in through the door in the first place. This placebo-like effect can be seen in the social media hubbub surrounding Holborn Dining Room. This previously … Continue reading