Berber and Q Shawarma Bar review – Exmouth Market gets sit-down kebabs
★★★☆☆ / Eclectic / Lebanese/Jordanian/Levantine

Berber and Q Shawarma Bar review – Exmouth Market gets sit-down kebabs

Middle Eastern BBQ sequel goes back to basics When most restaurants decide to expand by opening new branches, they usually sprout carbon copy clones of the original, try to make each new location different from all the others or try to strike some of middle-ground balance. Berber and Q, the flawed yet generally still superb Middle … Continue reading →

Texas Joe’s Smoked Meats review – superlative barbecue hidden behind Guy’s Hospital
American / ★★★★★ / Barbecue/BBQ

Texas Joe’s Smoked Meats review – superlative barbecue hidden behind Guy’s Hospital

London Bridge has never had it so good Update 29/1/18 – added details of revisit and updated formatting There are many injustices in London’s restaurant scene (I’m still hurting after the closure of Rex and Mariano), but few things annoy me more than unworthy barbecue restaurants. The likes of Porky’s, Bodean’s and Red Dog Saloon … Continue reading →

Bao Fitzrovia review – Taiwanese sequel tops Tottenham Court Road
★★★★★ / Chinese / Taiwanese

Bao Fitzrovia review – Taiwanese sequel tops Tottenham Court Road

The king is dead; long live the king Update 19/7/21 – this restaurant has now closed Fitzrovia has always had more than its fair share of restaurants given the relatively small size of this neighbourhood, hemmed in by Bloomsbury, Soho and Marylebone. Even so, the area has bloomed in recent years with some top notch … Continue reading →

Bodean’s Covent Garden review – the mediocrity continues
★★★☆☆ / Barbecue/BBQ

Bodean’s Covent Garden review – the mediocrity continues

Bait and switch tourist trap barbecue For many people Bodean’s is syonymous with American-style barbecue in London, but that doesn’t mean the food is actually any good. As I discovered in my original BBQ group test, the Tower Hill and Fulham branches of Bodean’s were distinctly middling, average and underwhelming – and that’s before you consider all the barbecue … Continue reading →

Bukowski Grill Soho review – bandwagon burgers and barbecue
★★☆☆☆ / Barbecue/BBQ / Burgers

Bukowski Grill Soho review – bandwagon burgers and barbecue

A waste of Soho real estate Update 19/06/2020 – this restaurant has now closed I haven’t heard the name Bukowski Grill in years – not since my round up of London’s best non-chain burgers. The Shoreditch branch of Bukowski fared poorly in those burger stakes, so it was no surprise when superior burger purveyors expanded far more rapidly … Continue reading →

Oklava review – classy Turkish food quite unlike any you’ve had before
★★★★☆ / Turkish / Turkish Kebabs

Oklava review – classy Turkish food quite unlike any you’ve had before

Another reason to stop being so pissy about Shoreditch London’s restaurant scene doesn’t stand still with an unstoppable cycle of new restaurants replacing old ones. Sometimes it’s for the worse, as when Charlotte Street’s Rasa Samudra, a very civilised Indian seafood restaurant, was replaced with a branch of Côte. A bloody, sodding, unforgivable Côte. Sometimes though, … Continue reading →

Big Stuff BBQ review – Berlin market hall barbecue brunch
★★★☆☆ / Barbecue/BBQ

Big Stuff BBQ review – Berlin market hall barbecue brunch

This review of a Berlin eatery is a break from The Picky Glutton’s usual London-based coverage Having American barbecue for lunch in Berlin may seem like a cop-out, but a lot of the restaurants that I would have otherwise visited in the German capital were frustrating closed for lunch – an annoying trend. Plus, and … Continue reading →

Shotgun Barbecue review – sleek and inventive Kingly Street BBQ
American / ★★★★☆ / Barbecue/BBQ

Shotgun Barbecue review – sleek and inventive Kingly Street BBQ

I call shotgun Update 14/2/17 – this restaurant has now closed There’s been a small boom in American-style barbecue restaurants in London since I first started covering the cuisine in-depth. New openings tend to be fairly traditional though, at least in principle, in both cuts of meat and technique. They also tend to stick to all … Continue reading →

Austen’s review – DJ Yoda’s Kensal Rise BBQ
★★★☆☆ / Barbecue/BBQ

Austen’s review – DJ Yoda’s Kensal Rise BBQ

Now there’s a headline I never thought I’d ever write Update 14/2/17 – this restaurant has now closed The comfortably leafy and middle class, yet relatively remote northwestern climes of Kensal Rise is the last place I’d expect to find an American barbecue restaurant. Even more so given the celebrity money backing it – DJ Yoda is … Continue reading →

The Cornwall Project at The Newman Arms review – Orwell’s pub is worth watching
★★★★☆ / Gastropub

The Cornwall Project at The Newman Arms review – Orwell’s pub is worth watching

Not a Cornish pasty in sight A lot of gastropubs are restaurants in all but name, but The Newman Arms in Fitzrovia stands apart from that annoying trend. It’s actually a boozer with a tiny downstairs drinking den that gets so packed out (especially on Thursdays and Fridays), that the crowds spill out onto the street … Continue reading →