My favourite London restaurant dishes of 2019
★★★★★ / ★★★★☆ / ★★★☆☆ / News

My favourite London restaurant dishes of 2019

The best dishes of the year that you haven’t tried yet As another year – and another decade – come to an end, it’s tempting to feel a sense of melancholy. The country as a whole rushes headlong into what will almost certainly be a jingoistically embarrassing debacle, while countless cherished restaurants have shut their … Continue reading

Paradise Soho review – the Sri Lankan restaurant packing big flavours into a small space
★★★★☆ / Sri Lankan

Paradise Soho review – the Sri Lankan restaurant packing big flavours into a small space

The new restaurant taking over Spuntino’s place Disclosure: one dessert was offered for free. This was unsolicited and was accepted out of politeness. I don’t envy London’s restauranteurs. Extending hospitality, warmth and service is made all the harder by the compromises needed to open a restaurant in the capital’s cutthroat restaurant market. Soaring rents in … Continue reading

Siren at The Goring review – seafood that isn’t fit for a Queen
★★☆☆☆ / Seafood

Siren at The Goring review – seafood that isn’t fit for a Queen

Overstuffed and underwhelming Update 17/06/2020 – this restaurant has closed as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic Seafood, like many things in life, is subject to the cyclical, ever-changing whims of fashion and finance. Although the details often depend on the specific seafood in question, seafood has – throughout the long history of these … Continue reading

Singburi review – the thrilling Thai restaurant that could close forever
★★★★☆ / Thai and Lao

Singburi review – the thrilling Thai restaurant that could close forever

Leytonstone’s best kept secret Singburi is a Thai restaurant in Leytonstone, but it’s hardly new as it was established back in the heady, halcyon days of 1999. While hardly unknown, it hasn’t garnered nearly as much fame as London’s new wave Thai restaurants, such as Kiln and Farang. The reasons why aren’t hard to fathom. … Continue reading

Street Feast Woolwich Public Market review: a street food guide
★★★★☆ / ★★★☆☆ / ★★☆☆☆ / ★☆☆☆☆

Street Feast Woolwich Public Market review: a street food guide

If there’s an ‘R’ word other than ‘restaurant’ that will elicit fierce emotions and strongly held opinions, then it’s ‘regeneration’ and the associated effects of gentrification that go with it. It’s therefore no surprise that the regeneration of Woolwich’s dilapidated but elegantly vaulted Public Market into Street Feast’s latest street food stall night market was … Continue reading

Hide review – the Dabbous sequel that could only have been born in Mayfair
★★★★★ / ★★★☆☆ / Eclectic / Modern European / Modernist

Hide review – the Dabbous sequel that could only have been born in Mayfair

Upstairs, Downstairs and where the two meet There are restaurants where it’s clear that compromises have been made. Whether due to money, time or stress, or some unfortunate combination of all three, a restaurant’s premises, location or menu sometimes aren’t quite what its proprietor and chef would have liked them to be. I’d be very … Continue reading

Mrs Le’s review – Clapham Junction’s rule-breaking Vietnamese diner
★★★★☆ / Vietnamese

Mrs Le’s review – Clapham Junction’s rule-breaking Vietnamese diner

Banh mi and grilled meats galore If you’ve had Vietnamese food in London in the last decade or so, then you’ll know the drill when you walk through the doors at any one of the capital’s umpteen Vietnamese restaurants. Pho, summer rolls and perhaps a coffee or two. Endless identikit curries, salads and fried noodle … Continue reading