All’oro review – glossy Rome fine dining
★★★☆☆ / Italian / Modern European / Modernist

All’oro review – glossy Rome fine dining

This review of a Rome restaurant is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Update 19/2/15 – clarified language detail regarding Quandoo Love them or loath them, online restaurant reservation services such as OpenTable are now an integral part of London’s restaurant culture. This makes eating out in Rome seem all the more quixotic as … Continue reading

Smoking Goat review – Thai Soho barbecue
★★★★☆ / Barbecue/BBQ / Thai and Lao

Smoking Goat review – Thai Soho barbecue

Smoky moody Tottenham Court Road dive bar Updated 12/02/2016 – added back room private dining details Updated 16/02/2015 – updated opening times This review was originally published on 5/11/2014 and has since been updated Thai food in London has been stuck in something of a rut, with the usual pad thais and green curries predominating. That’s slowly … Continue reading

Kurobuta Marble Arch review – modern Japanese izakaya falls flat
★★☆☆☆ / Japanese / Sushi/Sashimi

Kurobuta Marble Arch review – modern Japanese izakaya falls flat

An Edgware Road restaurant that isn’t Lebanese Eating at Kurobuta has, if nothing else, confirmed that I’m slowly devolving into a cantankerous old fart. Kurobuta is a modern take on the izakaya, a Japanese food pub, situated on a residential street just off Edgware Road. Originally due to open last Autumn, it was so delayed … Continue reading

Drakes Tabanco review – Tapas combining the best of Britain and Spain?
★★★☆☆ / Spanish / Tapas

Drakes Tabanco review – Tapas combining the best of Britain and Spain?

Fitzrovia tapas and sherry Update 7/04/2019 – this restaurant is now closed Fitzrovia, that weird part of London north of Oxford Street, south of Euston, west of Bloomsbury and east of Marylebone, is overflowing with tapas restaurants. Barrica, The Salt Yard and Fino are well established, each with their own dedicated following. That hasn’t stopped … Continue reading

Ember Yard review – Soho tapas is losing its sizzle
★★★☆☆ / Spanish / Tapas

Ember Yard review – Soho tapas is losing its sizzle

Octopus and chorizo skewers on Berwick Street Updated 21/6/2020 – added details of 2020 meals and updated the Verdict as well as the formatting. Disclosure: I used a publicly available discount for my 2020 meals. This discount was available to the general public; as ever I did not seek any special treatment just because I’m … Continue reading

Oriental Dragon review – hilarious service, good food
★★★★☆ / Chinese / Chinese Dumplings / Sichuanese

Oriental Dragon review – hilarious service, good food

Fitzrovia Chinese reaches new highs and lows Restaurants in London’s Chinatown are renowned for their brusque, hurried service, but this culture of surly indifference has no geographical boundaries. Oriental Dragon on Cleveland Street in Fitzrovia is a classic example. Although the service wasn’t completely charmless, overall it was hilariously unhelpful and it reached the apex … Continue reading

Story review – a fairy tale or a shaggy dog story?
★★★★☆ / Modern European / Modernist

Story review – a fairy tale or a shaggy dog story?

Tower Bridge gets a classy new neighbour A lot of new London restaurants have adopted some variant of the stripped back ‘industrial’ look common in Shoreditch – bare brick walls, exposed ventilation ducts and naked concrete floors. I’m thoroughly bored of this now cliched aesthetic, so I was pleased to discover that Story has opted … Continue reading