Perhaps the best way to approach the Chiltern Firehouse is with a high degree of scepticism only then to find expectations surpassed. I had been put off for two reasons.
Fischers: Homage to the Austrians (August 2014)
Locanda Locatelli: Almost excellent (February 2014)
Iberica Marylebone (July 2013)
Roti Chai Dining Room (December 2012)
2 Veneti (December 2012)
Maroush V (November 2012)
Go here for the food, not the atmosphere. Maroush (and indeed many of its peers) on the Edgware Road work superbly well not just because of the food but also because of the atmosphere. I (and I would imagine many other ‘western’ diners) go here because of its authenticity: the clientele is predominantly Middle Eastern, the conversation lively, the pace frenetic and the whole experience somewhat akin to being thrust into a much more local environ.