The new restaurant taking over Spuntino’s place Disclosure: one dessert was offered for free. This was unsolicited and was accepted out of politeness. I don’t envy London’s restauranteurs. Extending hospitality, warmth and service is made all the harder by the compromises needed to open a restaurant in the capital’s cutthroat restaurant market. Soaring rents in … Continue reading
Eating well on a budget in south east London If you hang around on London Food and Restaurant Twitter (TM) for long enough, then you’ll inevitably come across a peculiar form of griping. For some people, certain words and phrases are considered impermissible in food writing on pain of public shaming. Some, such as ‘melt … Continue reading
Bringing the spice of life to West Berkshire The West Berkshire town of Newbury is notable for a few things. It was the site of two battles in the English Civil War, its neighbours once included a RAF base picketed by anti-nuclear protestors and it’s the headquarters for the UK branch of telecommunications behemoth Vodafone. … Continue reading
In a nutshell: you can do better On the face of it, a menu of small plates intended for sharing amongst multiple people seems like an oxymoron. It’s child’s play to share a heaving slab of roast, a cauldron of casserole or a heap of noodles with your gathered friends and family. It’s much harder … Continue reading
Small plates don’t always lead to big rewards Update 31/01/2022 – this restaurant has now closed There’s no shortage of places in London to graze on small tapas-sized plates while guzzling wine, places where the list of liver-annihilating beverages is several times longer than the menu, especially around London Bridge and Borough Market. To the … Continue reading
It may not be that wild any more, but this restaurant is most definitely sweet In an age where many London restaurants are closing their doors forever, it’s heartening to see that at least a select few are beating the odds. Wild Honey holds a special place in my gluttonous history as it was one … Continue reading
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
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
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
The Spanish restaurant near The Gherkin that truly delivers It’s odd to begin a restaurant review by referring to another restaurant that I haven’t been to and that has closed entirely. But bear with me, as there’s a reason behind my madness. Barullo isn’t just a new Spanish restaurant in the City, within spitting distance … Continue reading
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