Les Deux Salons review – the Strand’s attractive French brasserie
★★★☆☆ / French

Les Deux Salons review – the Strand’s attractive French brasserie

Cheerful Continental Covent Garden Comfort Chow There’s no shortage of mock French-style brasseries and bistros in London from chains such as Cafe Rouge and Cote to independents such as Les Deux Salons. This two floor restaurant is a mere stone’s throw away from Covent Garden, Charing Cross and The Strand. Les Deux Salons is owned … Continue reading

Social Eating House review – Modernist cuisine gets affordable-ish
★★★☆☆ / Modern European / Modernist

Social Eating House review – Modernist cuisine gets affordable-ish

So popular, it needs its own doorman The oddly-named Social Eating House is the latest restaurant in Jason Atherton’s empire and it’s not quite as expensive as Atherton’s flagship Pollen Street Social. Whereas Pollen Street Social has a muted, inoffensive decor suited to its Mayfair location, the Soho-based Social Eating House is a tad more … Continue reading

HKK review – Chinese fine dining in the City
★★★★☆ / Chinese / Chinese Dumplings / Chinese Noodles

HKK review – Chinese fine dining in the City

Suits you or just for suits? Hakkasan was one of the restaurants that helped foster the idea that Chinese food in London wasn’t just greasy take away fare. HKK is a new City spin-off of the Soho original, but with an emphasis on expensive tasting menus that befits its location in the shadow of capitalism’s … Continue reading

Eating my way around Taiwan
Chinese / Chinese Dumplings / Chinese Noodles / Taiwanese

Eating my way around Taiwan

A travelogue where I eat myself stupid while the locals gawp and stare I could bore myself to tears writing about Taiwan – the landscapes, the cities and the people are, respectively, awe-inspiring, terrifying and fascinatingly peculiar. Taiwan’s food culture is a complex, wonderful thing with cuisines from all over mainland China crowded together on … Continue reading

★★☆☆☆ / Eclectic / Pan-Asian

Tapasia review – is the food any better than the pun-fully bad name?

Small bites at high prices Update July 2013 – this restaurant has now closed More restaurants than ever are opening in Soho despite the relative scarcity of real estate and Tapasia is one of the newest. This small bar and restaurant, located on bustling Old Compton Street, serves up Asian-inspired tapas which isn’t as strange … Continue reading

★★★★☆ / ★★★☆☆ / Mexican

La Bodega Negra review – Mexican food gets sexy

A Mexican restaurant of two halves As my fellow restaurant blogger 31_75 pointed out recently, in his own inimitable style, there are very few good Mexican restaurants in London. The situation isn’t nearly as bad as it was two decades ago when all we had were horrid Tex-Mex dives like Chiquito, but it’s still far from … Continue reading

★★★★★ / Vegetarian

Orchard review – Holborn’s vegetarian garden of earthly delights

Who says vegetarian food has to be boring? I’ve shamefully neglected to cover vegetarian restaurants on this blog despite the fact that two of my most trusted dining companions, The Flame Haired Squelchie and The Prancing Hippy, are vegetarians. That’s easy enough to rectify though as London has a respectable selection of vegetarian eateries, including Orchard, … Continue reading

★★★☆☆ / British / French / Italian

Tom’s Kitchen review – laid-back British comfort food in Chelsea

Tom Aikens Restaurant’s casual little brother I love fine dining and the meal I had at Tom Aikens Restaurant was one of the best of its kind. Sometimes though I’m just not in the mood for fancy food, but Tom Aikens has that covered too. Tom’s Kitchen is a much more casual and affordable sister restaurant … Continue reading

★★★★☆ / Barbecue/BBQ

Pitt Cue review – barbecue truck settles down in Soho

Having eaten my way through almost the entire menu, is this domiciled food truck really a bountiful BBQ bonanza? Update August 2013: more up-to-date review published Pitt Cue is a new barbecue restaurant in Soho, just around the corner from Carnaby Street, but it originally started out as a truck underneath Hungerford Bridge on the … Continue reading