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
Cheap (ish) Cambridge Circus cuisine Marketing is a magical thing. It can transform the mundane into something much more wondrous and exotic. Vico, an Italian restaurant that has taken over what used to be the Pizza Hut on the corner of Cambridge Circus and Charing Cross Road, is basically a fast food joint. Or a canteen or cafeteria if … Continue reading
A taste of northern Italy in Fitzrovia Italy has a bevy of regional cuisines but very few of them get any sort of exposure in London. For this reason alone In Parma deserves some credit for largely focussing on produce and dishes from the city of Parma and the surrounding region of Emilia-Romagna. This doesn’t seem that … Continue reading
Bargain seafood in the West End – hallelujah! Update 12/3/15 – added extra tuna steak photo Seafood in London has a reputation for being expensive, but Rex and Mariano shows that it doesn’t have be like that. Created by some of the masterminds behind Burger and Lobster, Rex and Mariano uses a couple of sneaky tricks to … Continue reading
This review of a Rome restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Holidaying by oneself can be a lonely experience, but it also gives a great degree of freedom – especially when it comes to choosing where and when to eat. Metamorfosi is a restaurant that would put many of my dining … Continue reading
This review of a Rome restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Londoners love to complain about The Big Smoke’s public transport and traffic congestion, but they haven’t seen anything until they’ve tried getting around Rome. The Eternal City’s minuscule metro and rail networks (minuscule for a major European capital at … Continue reading
Independent Tottenham Court Road Italian There’s a small clutch of Italian restaurants on the western side of Tottenham Court Road in Fitzrovia, but most are either yawn-inducing chains or dreary places serving up massive menus of slop. One of the very few exceptions is Sardo, a long-standing restaurant specialising in dishes from Sardinia. Not to … Continue reading
How does it measure up? Update July 2013 – this restaurant has now closed There’s obviously no shortage of pizza places in London, but most of them serve up grease-laden slices of slop. Franco Manca, with branches in Brixton, Chiswick and Westfield, is an exception but most of those locations aren’t exactly convenient if you’re … Continue reading
More mozzarella than you can shake a buffalo at As all of us know Canary Wharf is an overly corporatised glass and steel hell-hole with no where to eat besides godforsaken chain restaurants. There might be an exception to this rule though in the form of Obika, a restaurant that specialises in mozzarella. Inescapably however, … Continue reading
A night at the opera or a bit of a Zeppo? Gauthier and Arbutus are two of my favourite restaurants in Soho, but they’re not only a bit pricey but also rather formal – Gauthier especially so. Polpetto is just as enjoyable and more affordable and that little gem is now joined by Duck Soup, … Continue reading
