British, Oxford
Alex Gunz
No.1 Ship Street: Shipshape

Part of Oxford’s timeless allure is its narrow side streets. Visitors could easily miss Ship Street, despite it being footsteps away from both the city’s main tourist sights and one of its principal shopping thoroughfares. This would be a pity, since nestled halfway along lies an impressive boutique restaurant that could comfortably hold its own in London.

No.1 Ship Street: Shipshape
British, Covent Garden
Alex Gunz
Rules: The discreet charm of enduring tradition

Guests know exactly what to expect when they go to Rules. Its website reminds visitors that not only is it the “oldest restaurant in London” but that it “serves traditional British food.” Your reviewer had not been in over 25 years, but no part of the experience was markedly different. Think of Rules less as a tourist trap for those on an olde England nostalgia trip and more as an institution that has, and will continue, to endure.

Rules: The discreet charm of enduring tradition
Portuguese, City
Alex Gunz
Bar Douro: Saúde

The Portuguese, it is often said, are Britain’s oldest ally. Almost everyone who’s ever travelled to Portugal speaks highly of the country and the hospitality of its people. Gourmand Gunno has been more times than he can recall. Yet it remains anomalous just how few good Portuguese restaurants there are in central London. Fortunately, Bar Douro is one of them.

Bar Douro: Saúde
Chinese, Soho
Alex Gunz
Plum Valley: Plum choice

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.

Plum Valley: Plum choice
Indian, Soho
Alex Gunz
Kricket: Good sport

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.

Kricket: Good sport
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Kateh: Disorganised, rather than charming (April 2014)

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Kateh is a restaurant specialising in Persian food, located in Little Venice down a quaint side-street, on a site formerly occupied by the Green Olive. My dining comrade and I had been meaning to go for some time, it being local and also having being recommended by a Persian friend.

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Sushisamba: Dancing to the beat (February 2014)

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It’s a fairly well-trodden path that you need to take if you want to try and succeed at present on the London restaurant scene – a menu comprising sharing dishes that draw their culinary influences from around the world, especially Asia and South America. 

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Bombay Palace: Great food, but terrible service (November 2013)

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The British love of curry is well known and all manner of options are available, from Michelin-starred grandeur by the likes of Tamarind or Rasoi Vineet Bhatia to your carpeted local Indian found in almost every small town in England that serves After Eight mints at the meal’s conclusion.