Xu’s cheaper and more homely neighbour By accident or design, the sumptuously superlative Xu isn’t the only Taiwanese restaurant on Rupert Street. The West End’s most unlikely restaurant side street is also home to Old Tree Daiwan Bee. This oddly-named Taiwanese restaurant originally started out on a site in Golder’s Green and must be one … Continue reading
Live music and a celebrity chef amount to a hill of beans 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 matters to the experience for the diner at … Continue reading
New-wave Taiwanese food in old school surroundings Updated 14/8/2017 – new details added, including the desserts Eagle-eyed Londoners will have noticed that an increasingly large number of new restaurants in London are branches, spin-offs and extensions of existing restaurants. That is no accident – experienced operators and proven ‘concepts’ are easier to stomach for commercial … Continue reading
A southeast London restaurant worth getting excited about The idea that southeast London is a gastronomic desert bereft of anywhere good to eat out is a long-held canard. Although somewhat overstated, especially in boroughs with relative wealth and proximity to Zone 1, there is an element of truth to it. With the locals spending the … Continue reading
The king is dead; long live the king Fitzrovia has always had more than its fair share of restaurants given the relatively small size of this neighbourhood, hemmed in by Bloomsbury, Soho and Marylebone. Even so, the area has bloomed in recent years with some top notch restaurants opening in Fitzrovia from the revamped Newman … Continue reading
The entire menu reviewed Bao is a street food stand that was one of the winners of my Taiwanese buns group test, outdoing flashier, more well known competition such as Flesh and Buns. While Bao still operates a stall at various markets, it now has a small Soho restaurant serving up an expanded menu serving more than … Continue reading
Alan Yau tries his hand at Turkish food with mixed results Londoners have been praying for the demise of the hated Aberdeen Angus Steakhouse chain for decades now. While that tourist-duping parasite is still with us, its weird clone of a competitor the Scotch Steak House chain has thankfully bitten the dust. Taking its place … Continue reading
