If New Quebec Street in Marylebone were my local high street, then I would be delighted. Luckily it is close to where your reviewer both lives and works. Zayna has been a long-standing favourite for curry. There’s also a great wine shop, a fishmonger and more. In addition, Boxcar is located on this street. Open since 2017, Gourmand Gunno corrected a long-standing anomaly by visiting it recently. Billed as a ‘neighbourhood restaurant’, it certainly constitutes a wonderful addition to the street, for both food and vibe.
From a modest café that opened over a hundred years ago, to a Michelin-starred celebrity hang-out, the history of the Ivy has been both varied and colourful. The brand remains an enduring one in the culinary world despite having opened Ivy spin-offs across the country, in towns such as Guildford. Its most recent venture has been to create an Asian sub-brand. Trading partly on its name, the ethos at Ivy Asia is full-on decadence with decent enough food to match.
A visit to Horma Ondo is an experience. Take in the views, enjoy the food and wine. This is the sort of place where one could comfortably spend a whole day. It’s located in the hills outside Bilbao and easy to miss if one does not know the way. Fortunately my host was a local to the area and successfully navigated the winding road up to the venue. Once there, we relaxed and enjoyed the restaurant to the full.
Reviewers that see any restaurant describe itself as “eclectic” have good reason – often through bitter prior experience – to be sceptical. When your venue has an absurdly pretentious name and is located on an expensive street in Mayfair, then the trepidation should mount further. MiMi, named with yet more absurdity in homage to a fictional empress who travels across China, is however worth a visit. There is substance behind the show.
Diners in search of good food when visiting Brighton are not short of options. However, the Coal Shed should feature as a must-visit. Such has been its success that the venue’s backers have opened a second outlet in London which has been similarly praised. The Coal Shed represents a textbook study in simplicity combined with super execution.
The British have always had a love affair with beef. Think of William Hogarth’s famous painting in the Tate, “The Gate of Calais”, also known as “The Roast Beef of Old England.” It shows a man valiantly defending a side of beef from the perfidious French. In more recent years, the likes of Hawksmoor and Goodman have raised the stakes (no pun intended) in terms of what diners can expect from a good cut of meat. Into the fray has sprung Flat Iron, a mini-chain on a distinct mission – to bring steak to the masses. It mostly succeeds.
Gourmand Gunno has eaten a lot of steak in his life. Despite being married to a vegetarian, there remains something deeply satisfying – primeval even – about tucking into a bit of cow. While diners do not lack options for such an experience in London, it was a pleasure recently to return to Goodman for the first time since before the pandemic. The cooking remains on top form, albeit that you are paying elevated Mayfair prices.
If you can look beyond the slightly garish and tacky cowhide furnishings, and steak is your thing, then Gaucho is a very decent option. Despite the Gaucho enterprise spanning a dozen outlets in London and four around the rest of the UK, it was a first for Gourmand Gunno to visit the Leeds branch and pen a review.
A neighbourhood restaurant in Soho? Lovely idea, but surely not workable? Maybe not, but this is the angle that Foxlow has gone for. The venue – the fourth in this mini chain operated by the same team behind the successful Hawksmoor venture – was full of good vibes and food and all very much on-trend. In summary, highly comforting (just like your neighbourhood local) and competent if neither revolutionary or ground-breaking.
Being a regular reviewer of restaurants has many privileges, but a combination of coincidence and premeditation has seen me visit three different Hawksmoor locations across London in the last two months. Regardless of venue (Air Street, Seven Dials and Spitalfields, in reverse chronological order), the formula has been not only remarkably consistent but also hugely successful. Put simply, this is about good meat in a highly convivial atmosphere.
There is something deeply satisfying about eating a slab of meat. Admittedly it is not an experience one would want to do every day, but when doing, it is worth doing properly. There are indeed few better places to enjoy such a delight than at Goodman, although be warned, the experience does not come cheap.
