Your reviewer is blessed living in London, arguably the culinary capital of the world. If any other city were to go head-to-head with it, then New York would be the most likely candidate. England’s capital boasts more Michelin-starred outlets than its North American rival, although NYC wins on the metric of stars per square mile. It also boasts more restaurants in absolute terms. However, this is not a competition…
How many restaurants that have been open for over eight years can claim to have a queue of people waiting outside for them to open on a weekday lunchtime? Sabor is part of this elite club. Securing a booking at the venue is still difficult. And for good reason. Chef Nieves Barragán and her team make the best suckling pig in London.
Ask any gastrophile to list their favourite dishes and you may be some time. Although open for just three months in central Soho (the venue began life as a Borough Market pop-up), Khao Bird’s mutton fries could be one of those dishes. Diners will leave not only salivating but also dashing to return soon.
Have you ever had that feeling when everything was going swimmingly well and then, just when you least expected it, the rug was pulled abruptly and uncomfortably from under your feet? The experience of dining at Clare Smyth’s second London restaurant – open for only two months, as we were regularly reminded – felt unfortunately like this.
With a country that has over 75% of its perimeter bordered by water, you would hope the Spanish know a thing or two about fish. Travel to almost every seaside town in the country and you can expect to find some pretty decent cooking. But how to choose? When a restaurant is recommended by a top nearby winemaker whom you respect highly and features in the Michelin guide, then that’s a good starting point.
In many ways, Jikoni is the perfect place to go for a meal in these strange times. Consider that the restaurant’s name means ‘kitchen’ in Swahili. The emphasis is – and always has been – on informality; almost as if one were stepping into the proprietor’s kitchen. There are no airs and graces here. The principle of style over substance is almost inverted at Jikoni – an appropriate mindset, perhaps, for the COVID-19 world…
Hush represented a great place to begin the experiment of dining in the COVID-19 era. The venue remains a well-kept secret, tucked away in a discreet Mayfair courtyard. It was mostly business as normal at the restaurant. Hush has been around for over 20 years simply because it has continued to deliver consistently good - even if far from ground-breaking - food….
Gourmand Gunno’s previous blog entry was penned just over 100 days ago, on 11 March, when the world was a very different place. Hopefully his next will occur in July. Read on for what Gourmand Gunno has both liked and lamented about the food scene over the last three months, encompassing everything from home cooking to home deliveries…
May 2014 seems like an age ago. In the world of restaurants, especially in London and all the more so in Soho, it is akin to a lifetime. Yet almost six years on from when the Palomar first opened its doors, the venue has lost none of its allure. If it was love at first sight back then, a recent visit reignited all the original passion.
Diners around the Charlotte Street/ Goodge Street nexus have an ample range of dining opportunities. Ampéli – open since January – does, however, bring something new. Eastern Mediterranean (a nice broad catch-all, encompassing everything from Italy to Israel) is definitively on-trend while Greek food and wine – Ampéli’s angle – is both overlooked and underappreciated.
The Ledbury has become a byword for fine dining in London, perhaps no surprise given that its doors have been open for 15 years and that it has held two Michelin stars for more than half this time. However, the world has moved on. While the Ledbury was once, arguably, in a class of its own, others can now match and even beat the venue at its game. …
Barrica offers a masterclass in sherry and tapas pairing . Similar to Bar Pepito, both venues share an ethos of trying to create an eating-drinking space that would not feel out of place in Spain. Barrica is a light and spacious as Pepito is dark and cramped (in a good way). In Barrica, take in the chequerboard floor, marbled counter and swinging jamons…
Themed restaurants rarely work. That’s the opinion of this reviewer. They just try too hard. The reality tends to be a disappointment; as the cliché goes, just as it’s hard to put lipstick on a pig, it’s equally difficult to assume that a cycling outlet can also work as a fully-fledged pizza restaurant…
Gourmand Gunno has been a regular traveller to and frequent advocate of Israel. There is much to love about the country and its food. The Coal Office, located in the Granary Square development behind King’s Cross, is the latest iteration of Israel’s potential and perhaps the venue in London that most faithfully captures the vibe of high-end dining outlets in Tel Aviv. Formal it is not, yet beneath the buzz, this is an incredibly slick operation.
Ask most people to come up with expressions they typically associate with Italy and you might find ‘good food’ and ‘chaotic organisation’ mentioned. It would, however, be relatively rare to see both used in the same sentence. As far as Norma – a new Italian venture is Fitzrovia is concerned – where it excelled in food, it failed in service.
That Anne-Sophie Pic’s London outpost has just received its second Michelin star speaks volumes. A visit here is undoubtedly an elevated dining experience which delivered across the board. It would be easy to feel awed – given the grand location (inside the Four Seasons Hotel, which itself is housed in the former London Port Authority building), much-garlanded chef and already mentioned stars – but, the prevailing impression is one of genuine welcome….
Want an antidote to power dining in Mayfair, but still an opportunity to enjoy incredibly high-quality food? Try Lucknow 49, the third Indian restaurant to have appeared on Maddox Street in as many years, but by far the most homely. The style of cooking is Awadhi, namely from the region of Lucknow in the north east of India, close to the Nepalese border. 49, more prosaically, refers to the street number
Visit the homepage of the Ivy and the word that stands out most strongly is ‘modern’, which prefixes the perhaps less glamorous ‘British restaurant’ descriptor. Sceptics might suggest a case of trying too hard, whereas a more generous interpretation would highlight that the success of this stalwart restaurant brand lies in its ongoing relevance. concept. A large group of us recently descended on the Soho branch of the ever-expanding empire and came away impressed by the execution if not outright wowed. ..
Say Four Seasons to anyone with knowledge of the hospitality industry and they will probably look longingly. For those unaware, this 90-strong hotel chain present in 39 countries has a well-deserved reputation for offering some of the best luxury experiences available. A recent event saw your reviewer have the fortune to visit the chain’s Hampshire venue, set on the edge of the New Forest in the village of Dogsmerfield…
With half a dozen restaurants and a similar number of books to his name, as well as a regular newspaper column, superstars in the culinary world don’t come much bigger than Yotam Ottolenghi. He has arguably done more to change eating habits in London over the last decade than any other figure, making the fusion of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food mainstream. Nopi, his relatively upscale Soho venture, hits all the spots in terms of both vibe and food.
