Trivet review – the London Bridge fine dining restaurant with an identity crisis
★★★☆☆ / Modern European / Modernist

Trivet review – the London Bridge fine dining restaurant with an identity crisis

What’s the point of all this? Fine dining used to be so easy to identify. The opulently decorated dining rooms, the tablecloths, the suited and booted staff – and that was just the physical environment, never mind the hushed aura. Then there was the food, itself a world apart from what most of us ate … Continue reading

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

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

Mãos review – the enigmatic Viajante supper club isn’t that mysterious after all
★★★☆☆ / Modern European / Modernist

Mãos review – the enigmatic Viajante supper club isn’t that mysterious after all

But don’t tell that to the Nuno Mendes fanboys Update 10/4/18 – added a few new sentences to the conclusion. When you’re one of London’s most feted chefs, responsible for smash hits like the Chiltern Firehouse and Taberna do Mercado, then there’s only one thing left for you to do. You open a secretive supper … Continue reading

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

Claude Bosi at Bibendum review – a classic building, a vaunted chef and the new Hibiscus
★★★★☆ / French / Modern European / Modernist

Claude Bosi at Bibendum review – a classic building, a vaunted chef and the new Hibiscus

Like a regenerated Doctor Who, what’s old is new again. I tend to review new restaurants and Claude Bosi at Bibendum does technically count as a new restaurant, having only just opened at the beginning of April this year. Except, in some ways, it is more of an amalgam of restaurants that have gone before it. Most … Continue reading

Rick Stein Barnes review – celebrity chef serves the only seafood in the village
★★★☆☆ / Seafood

Rick Stein Barnes review – celebrity chef serves the only seafood in the village

TV CV only gets you oh so far I have little time for most TV celebrity chefs, but I’ll usually make an exception for Rick Stein. His genteel avuncular charm, childlike wonder and boundless yet measured enthusiasm make him far more watchable than the majority of his arse-clenchingly irritating peers. The big man naturally doesn’t cook in … Continue reading

Low, Slow and Juke review – the most hideously disgraceful BBQ in London
American / ★☆☆☆☆ / Barbecue/BBQ

Low, Slow and Juke review – the most hideously disgraceful BBQ in London

Unutterable swear words suppressed The quality of American-style barbecue in London has made leaps and bounds in the past several years, but continual progress is by no means guaranteed. There’s no clearer example of the potential for setting back an entire genre through massive incompetence than Low, Slow and Juke. Owned by pubco Marston’s, this underground … Continue reading