When Deeson’s opened in Canterbury in 2009 many believed that it would help restore the city’s culinary reputation. Since then, and in common with many other prosperous towns with tourist attractions in the south east, the dining scene has moved on.
Chinese, Soho
The English idiom is an apt one for this restaurant – a rare gem amidst the bustle of London’s Chinatown. Plum Valley stands apart from many of the 70 or so restaurants packed into the area around Gerrard Street. It provides a bridge between traditional Cantonese dining – the mainstay of the district – and a more modern, upscale aesthetic. It’s a sleek, tranquil escape.
Indian, Soho
There’s something anarchic about deliberately spelling the name of your restaurant wrong – and somehow getting away with it. Kricket – a playful nod to the shared British and Indian cultural obsession with the sport – has grown up from its original Brixton pop-up inception in a shipping container. Visit their Soho outpost for a taste of modern Anglo-Indian cooking.
European, Mayfair
What an anomaly: in 14 years of reviewing restaurants, your author must have been to the Wolseley at least 14 times but has hitherto failed to review the venue. Oversight, or simply an inadvertent error? It’s sometimes easy to forget just how consistently good the Wolseley is, making dining look effortless ever since its opening in the early 2000s.
Eclectic, Middle Eastern, Soho
Impala is a rare beast, a restaurant like no other that utterly defies classification. Six months on from opening, it is still almost impossible to get a table at the venue – your reviewer had his finger on the buzzer the moment new slots became available – despite it boasting 90 covers. There is a frenetic energy about the restaurant. Think big, bold and buzzing as well as crazy, charming and chaotic.
Brazilian, Steak, South London
A grotty side street close to the railway arches, with a working man’s pub and council block in spitting distance, is not where you would expect to find one version of culinary heaven. However, for those intrepid diners willing to venture into the Bermondsey district of southeast London, a mighty feast awaits. Spend time in Dom Carnivoro and you could almost imagine you were in Brazil.
