Back with a new look and feel, Herne Hill’s Number 22 has the potential to become a well-established local favourite. Large windows, tastefully coloured walls (bold yellow in the back part of the restaurant, acts as a perfect foil to the light blue in the main part), a banquette around the left side and a beautifully tiled bar in the centre create an overall sense of warmth and welcome.
Gauthier Soho: Impressed, but not wowed (September 2014)
Just minutes from the sex shops of Soho is not perhaps the most obvious place to site a high-end French fine dining restaurant. Diners enter Gauthier (eponymously named after the head chef) through a discrete black door on Romilly Street and find themselves amidst an oasis of calm, a notable contrast to the outside world.
Kurobuta Marble Arch: On-trend, if not for all (September 2014)
It seems that if you want to attempt to ensure success in opening a London restaurant then there is a fairly simple formula to follow: you hire a chef formerly at a prestigious restaurant (in this case, Nobu); you offer pan-Asian fusion food; you make all the dishes obligatory for sharing; and you staff the place with trendy and good-looking people.
The Palomar: Every reason to go (August 2014)
As a seasoned London restaurant-goer, it is relatively rare, but nonetheless highly pleasurable, that when leaving an establishment after eating I was smiling from ear-to-ear, struggling to find enough superlatives to praise the place and thinking that I needed to make my next reservation as soon as possible.
Bombay Nights: Good local Indian (August 2014)
Bilbao Berria: Spanish success (August 2014)
The construction work blighting Regent Street meant that we missed the entrance to Bilbao Berria on our recent visit. It took two phone calls to the front desk to establish the exact location, and even then, the exterior is somewhat nondescript, located incongruously next to a branch of the ubiquitous Pret a Manger.
Camino King’s Cross: A road worth travelling (August 2014)
Fischers: Homage to the Austrians (August 2014)
Roka Mayfair: Disappointing (July 2014)
dindin Kitchen: Persian food For everyone (July 2014)
For anyone in search of something a little new and different – but also very good, fresh, healthy and innovative – then a visit to dindin is a must. On our way to the restaurant, my comrade and I discussed how much the London dining scene had changed in the last ten years, becoming much more varied and definitely better as a result.
The George in Rye: Identity crisis (July 2014)
Cha Cha Moon: Cheap and Cheerful (June 2014)
Visitors to the Carnaby/ Kingley street area of London are not short of culinary options. Even on the sunny lunchtime last week when two of us visited Cha Cha Moon for the first time, and the main criterion for choosing a restaurant beyond its location was the ability to sit outdoors, there exist many other nearby alternatives.
Hakkasan Mayfair: Indulgent, but definitely worth it (June 2014)
Going to Hakkasan is an experience, from beginning to end, and while not cheap, it is undoubtedly worth it. The sense of anticipation and occasion is heightened on arrival. While the exterior of the building is relatively nondescript, in an office block to the side of Berkeley Square, diners are forced to walk down a relatively long, delicately-scented black passageway lit only by small sparkling lights in order to reach the dining room.
NAC: Simple yet effective (June 2014)
Meghna Grill St John’s Wood: Great neighbourhood Indian (June 2014)
Peyote: Much Mexican magic (June 2014)
All things South American (and not just the football) currently seem in vogue. After the success and subsequent entrenchment of Coya and Sushisamba on the London dining scene, along comes Peyote, devoted broadly to the cuisine of Mexico – admittedly in Central America, but stylistically quite similar in terms of cuisine.
The Wells: Underwhelming (June 2014)
Green and leafy Hampstead feels as if it could be part of the countryside rather than just a few tube stops north of Euston or Camden. Being a world removed from the London we all probably know better may have its charms, but what the Wells gains in terms of location, our group of five dining there recently on a weekday evening felt it lost in terms of atmosphere and service.
Babbo: Nice – but at a price (June 2014)
Benares: Over-priced and overrated (May 2014)
It doesn’t matter how many times I go to Benares, I just can’t get to like it. This was the first time for me for a while, but it hadn't improved since my previous visit. Clearly chef Atul Kochhar must be doing something right to have earned a Michelin star for the eighth consecutive year, and while the food may have been good, it certainly wasn’t outstanding, the whole experience far from cheap, and the atmosphere underwhelming.