Core by Clare Smyth review – fine dining where meat isn’t the main course
★★★☆☆ / Modern European / Modernist

Core by Clare Smyth review – fine dining where meat isn’t the main course

Not nearly as cliched as you might think at first glance Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A fine dining restaurant with a much-vaunted chef at the helm has opened in leafy, wealthy zone 1 West London and serves dishes based on seasonal British produce. If that sentence of postmodern London restaurant cliches … Continue reading

Red Rooster at The Curtain review – the botched Shoreditch soul food transplant
American / ★☆☆☆☆ / Eclectic

Red Rooster at The Curtain review – the botched Shoreditch soul food transplant

Live music and a celebrity chef amount to a hill of beans Updated 23/11/20 – this restaurant has now closed 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 … Continue reading

Xu review – Bao spin-off brings new twists to Taiwanese food
★★★★★ / Chinese / Taiwanese

Xu review – Bao spin-off brings new twists to Taiwanese food

New-wave Taiwanese food in old school surroundings Update 28/3/2018 – updated opening hours Update 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’ … Continue reading

Madame D review – Gunpowder spin-off tries to scale new heights in Spitalfields
★★★☆☆ / Tibetan/Nepalese

Madame D review – Gunpowder spin-off tries to scale new heights in Spitalfields

But doesn’t quite reach the summit. It’s odd watching the city of your youth gradually change and morph, almost imperceptibly, over the years. Commercial Street is a thoroughfare that links Hoxton and Shoreditch in the north with Whitechapel to the south, running right through Spitalfields and parallel to the City as it does so. It was until recently, and still … 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

Little Smoke review – Moorgate Smokehouse spin-off doesn’t have the chops
★★☆☆☆ / Steak/chophouse

Little Smoke review – Moorgate Smokehouse spin-off doesn’t have the chops

‘Little’ is the operative word and not in a good way I’ve been reviewing restaurants for long enough now to see multiple restaurants rise and fall, often at the same address. The small space at the edge of City Point near Moorgate is a case in point. Six years ago it was a forgettable and now … Continue reading

Duck Duck Goose review – Brixton Cantonese roasts just in time for Chinese New Year
★★★☆☆ / Chinese

Duck Duck Goose review – Brixton Cantonese roasts just in time for Chinese New Year

Quack, quack, honk If there’s one thing that London isn’t short of, it’s Cantonese restaurants. For years it was the only kind of Chinese food widely available in the capital, with other cuisines from the continent-sized country only becoming prevalent in the past decade or so. This increased regional representation makes Duck Duck Goose even more … Continue reading

Corazon review – Soho Mexican takes a small step forwards
★★★☆☆ / Mexican

Corazon review – Soho Mexican takes a small step forwards

But it’s not the giant leap that London needs Update 22/01/2022 – this restaurant has now closed Santo Remedio was a startling breath fresh of air. Coming seemingly out of nowhere, that Shoreditch restaurant single-handedly revitalised the state of Mexican food in London with a deftness and depth to its cooking that was true to … Continue reading

The best dishes of 2016 – London restaurants you need to visit right now
★★★★★ / ★★★★☆ / News

The best dishes of 2016 – London restaurants you need to visit right now

2016: I love you and I hate you 2016 may have a stomach churning, gut punching year in the realm of politics and celebrity deaths, but at least it’s also been a rip-roaring thrill ride for Londoners who like to eat out. Some truly wondrous restaurants have opened in the capital over the past year – and … Continue reading

Luca review – the Clove Club’s Italian spin-off is odd but lovely
★★★★☆ / Italian

Luca review – the Clove Club’s Italian spin-off is odd but lovely

Farringdon Britalian is a mash-up in more ways than one Although there are Italian restaurants of every shape and variety in London for all budgets, it’s the expensive ones that I’ve always found most amusing. Along with French and Japanese, Italian restaurants can easily get away with charging high prices that would be harder for … Continue reading