In an alternative world, imagine the London dining scene without JKS. The restaurant chain developed by the Sethi siblings has gifted the city with the likes of Gymkhana, Trishna, Brigadiers, BiBi, Hoppers and more. Diners’ knowledge of the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent would be much the poorer without their outlets. Despite its pretentious name, Ambassadors Clubhouse is a valuable addition to their suite of restaurants. In many ways, it represents the JKS team going back to its roots.
It is roughly three miles from Belsize Park, a comfortably wealthy north London suburb, to Mayfair. Or step out of one of the grand houses close to the euphemistic ‘Belsize Village’ square and you will find Mimi. More than a neighbourhood local, Mimi felt to this reviewer that it would be much happier in W1 than NW3. If glitz and glamour is what you want – without the central London hike – then Mimi is for you.
Few may have heard of Thomas Cubitt, but many may have visited the mini pub chain that is named in his honour. For the unaware, the gentleman in question was a British master builder, renowned for developing much of the late Georgian and early Victorian architecture that defines London. Wind the clock on to the 21st Century and many of his buildings have been reincarnated as up-market pubs.
The dove is often associated with peace and love. The backers of this newly opened on-trend Notting Hill venue perhaps hoped to inspire both with their restaurant. Your reviewer felt neither when visiting last week, even if its potential was evident.
The first thing diners notice when they step into Silva is the light. There’s a feeling of tranquillity. Maybe it’s akin to being in a forest glade, which would not be accidental since ‘silva’ is the Latin word for forest. Readers should get the impression then that aesthetics are a big thing at Silva. The food isn’t at all shabby either. Think of this restaurant as a combination of the refined and the relaxed.
What could be more quintessentially English than fish and chips by the seaside? A recent work jaunt saw Gourmand Gunno make the one-hour train journey down from London to see seafood done properly in one of the oldest restaurants in Brighton. There’s far more to English’s though than just the humble battered plaice…
Does London need yet another Indian restaurant? Well, if it’s as good as Pali Hill, then yes. Indian cuisine in the central part of town is a highly crowded and competitive market and so restaurants really need to be doing something either very good, very different, or ideally both in order to make a mark. When two comrades and I dined recently at Pali Hill on a midweek evening, we came away impressed.
When Gourmand Gunno first travelled to Mexico many years ago he was told that the Mexicans believed their cuisine to be the third-best in the world. This was a clever notion: why try to claim you’re better than the French or the Italians (who apparently ranked numbers one and two)? At the same time though, you’re making a clear statement of intent about how you believe your food should be regarded. Even if this ranking is certainly open to debate, it is still fair to wonder just why there are so few restaurants serving genuine Mexican food in the world’s major cities. The good news for Londoners is that KOL seeks to address this anomaly. It delivers admirably.
Having spent some time in Mexico – including a dedicated six-week period – your reviewer can state that what Madera offers is not authentic Mexican food, but a take on it, which will more likely appeal to British and American palates. Beyond the view and the people watching opportunities, Madera ticks almost all the evident boxes of what ‘on-trend’ restaurants seek to offer – a bewilderingly complicated menu, dishes explicitly made for sharing which arrive as soon as they are ready and music that was slightly too loud for a midweek lunchtime.
With travel to Paris still problematic, what to do if you want old school French grub? Even if it has a certain charm of its own, Mayfair’s Shepherds Market will never be the Rive Gauche, but Le Boudin Blanc gives you a little taste of what being in France could be like. The restaurant is a Mayfair establishment, having been open for almost 30 years…
Walk roughly ten minutes north west from St John’s Wood station and you reach a quiet and leafy residential street that speaks of prosperity. Nestled on one side – blink and you might almost miss it – is the Clifton. When my comrade and I visited on a recent weekday lunchtime, every table was occupied, and service was perhaps correspondingly somewhat slower than we might have hoped for. Sure, a minor irritation, but the Clifton is the sort of venue where it would be easy to while away an afternoon or longer.
The dictionary says that the term ‘fallow’ means farmland that has been ploughed and harrowed but is then left for a period without being sown in order to restore its fertility and avoid surplus production. Although an ancient concept, it also has a wonderfully modern resonance, according well with all things sustainable. Fallow, one of the hottest new openings of 2020, takes this idea as its guiding principle and successfully pulls off the act of being both a right-on and very cool venue.
With outside dining being the norm for now, Skylon is worth considering. Expect a confident but far from ground-breaking demonstration of modern British cooking with a few European twists. Given we are still in the early era of returning to normality, food and wine lists have a greater than usual level of brevity. At least it makes choosing easier. To complain though is to miss the point: what we have been missing is not chef-cooked food per se, but atmosphere – this is what venues such as Skylon are selling….
Sollip promised so much on paper. Sadly the reality was markedly different. At least our experience was memorable. In eight years of regularly writing on restaurants, Sollip achieved something no other venue had previously done: straight after his meal, your reviewer went to another restaurant for a second dinner – for he had been left wanting by Sollip, in every sense of the term.
It has become almost de rigeur for every tall building in the City of London to provide a dining experience on one of its higher floors. The claim of 14 Hills, that it offers “unapparelled” views of London, is perhaps hyperbole. Fortuitously, there is more to enjoy at this venue than just the views. 14 Hills delivers very solid if not quite ground-breaking cuisine at a reasonable price point.
How seriously can you take any restaurant that claims to take guests “on a sensory journey along the Amazon river and through Latin America?” You certainly can’t fault Amazonico for its desire to make a splash on the London dining scene. My recent visit there was everything I expected: big on bling and pricing at Mayfair levels. However, you get what you pay for and the quality of the cooking surprised positively to the upside…
One year on from my previous visit to Core and the venue goes from strength to strength. The quiet confidence exhibited by Clare Smyth and her team remains firmly intact and certainly not disrupted by the pandemic. Certainly if you want to be treated, then there are few better places currently to visit in London that rival Core…
The joy of new discovery – or serendipity – is one of life’s pleasures. So it was with Kolamba, a newish restaurant serving Sri Lankan food on the edge of Soho. Maybe no coincidence, but Sri Lanka was, of course, once known as Serendip. The premise behind Sri Lankan cuisine is a harmonious merger of sweet, savoury and sour flavours. It’s mostly executed very well here.
Restaurant venues which seek to twin food cultures rarely work. They speak of concept or novelty rather than underlying culinary ability or inspiration. Despite my inherent scepticism, Tokyo Pizza – the restaurant’s name gives one a pretty clear indication of what to expect – is perhaps onto something. The principle here is certainly a great one: take the much-loved Italian dough base and then top it with Japanese-influenced ingredients...
