Italian food from Wild Honey and Arbutus The Barbican Centre may be a supreme example of Brutalist architecture and a fine place to take in a film or exhibition, but it’s been a barren wasteland for food with branches of Benugo, Cote and other such dens of last resort as your only in-house dining choices up until … Continue reading
Tag Archives: london
Hill and Szrok Pub review – Old Street meat pub is worth a butcher’s hook
Steakhouse and pub all-in-one Update 19/7/21 – this restaurant has now closed The original Hill and Szrok is a butchers in Broadway Market that branched out into catering. Re-purposing its central marble slab into a communal table, the butcher turned into a self-described ‘cookshop’ at night. ‘Cookshops’ are apparently the Regency-era precursors to restaurants in … Continue reading
Bellanger review – French-German mashup wags my tail
Alsace Islington brasserie on the green Update 16/8/2019 – this restaurant has now closed Britain’s long relationship with France has been a fraught and tangled one, to say the least. Thankfully that hasn’t stopped a surge of new French restaurants opening in London over the past couple of years. Bellanger, from the people behind Brasserie Zedel … Continue reading
Mr Bao review – New York, Taipei, Peckham
Peckham Taiwanese small bites Update 25/2/2018 – updated formatting and corrected a few typos We Londoners like to think that we’re very cosmopolitan, open to new things and experiences, but when it comes to food we tend to prefer our exoticism in small, easily relatable bites. Chinese food is a prime example. A wealth of eating … Continue reading
Le Bab review – venison kebabs and a pig’s head
Moo, cluck and oink Disclosure: A 10% discount was applied to the bill for my fourth meal, unsolicited. This was accepted only out of politeness. I originally had no intention of reviewing Le Bab. The first thing that put me off was the location – Soho’s Kingly Court (home of the risible Whyte and Brown) is effectively … Continue reading
Shuang Shuang review – conveyor belt Chinese hot pot
Do-it-yourself food at silver spoon prices Chinese food in London has long been dominated by Cantonese cooking, but that appeared to be changing in the mid noughties with Sichuanese eateries opening up across the city. That move towards better representation of China’s myriad regional cuisines soon stalled, but it appears to have restarted with new … Continue reading
Gunpowder review – lamb chops better than Tayyab’s
Tiny City Indian shows us the money The City is the last place I’d expect to find a small and characterful restaurant tucked away on a small lane, but that’s exactly what I found in Gunpowder. This narrow Indian restaurant just has space for around two dozen covers – be prepared to hear every detail … Continue reading
Sushisamba review – sky-high group dining
Glossy, pretty and oh so vacant Tourist guide books often note that London no longer has a high-rise rotating tower restaurant like Berlin’s TV Tower or Toronto’s CN Tower. While thankfully true, this doesn’t mean London is short of skyscraper restaurants – far from it. There are plenty of places where you’re paying more for the … Continue reading
The Ninth review – racing towards first place and falling short
Fitzrovia French falls forwards While there’s hardly a shortage of expensive fine dining restaurants in London, there has still nonetheless been a general shift away from pricey, starched table cloth restaurants towards less costly, more informal eateries. In most cases, big name chefs and restaurant groups have been content to merely launch spin-offs, such as Dabbous … Continue reading
The best dishes of 2015 – London restaurants you need to visit
What a year it’s been Ah 2015, I barely knew you. It’s been one hell of a year for dining out in London with a bevy of new and interesting restaurants opening in the capital. I usually end the old year and usher in the new with a look back at the restaurants that you, the … Continue reading
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