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.
Could Arcade be the future of modern dining experiences? Many would believe so. Go visit at any time of the day and Arcade is packed. Even with a capacity of 350 covers, booking on a week night evening has now become necessary. Far from the JKS Group (the backers of Trishna, Gymkhana, Brigadiers etc.) having over-extended themselves with Arcade, it is an exceptionally well-executed concept. There’s something for everyone.
Green Lanes evokes some wonderfully romantic and bucolic images. In times of yore, drovers would bring their animals to slaughter in town along this route which connected a series of greens reaching into central London. Today, it is a road that combines the gritty and the suburban. It’s somehow appropriate that much of Green Lanes now comprises restaurants – slaughtered animals find their way onto diners’ plates. Your reviewer visited recently and loved it.
This is not your typical restaurant. It’s been open for over 40 years and it still does not have a menu. You turn up (reservations are recommended), tell the chef what you don’t want to eat, and Hunan will do the rest. Such was the joy of eating here and the culinary artistry on display, it is little surprise that Hunan is still going strong.
2022 has been a banner year for eating. Gourmand Gunno certainly benefited from a post-COVID restaurant rebound. Meals out became the norm again. Venues are in the business of providing not just top food and drink, but also atmosphere. That’s why diners such as your reviewer end up going out again, and again. Just over 50 new reviews were added to the website through over the year. Furthermore, your reviewer managed to visit 17 different countries in 2022 and so the number of additions to the Global Gunno page of the website has also expanded. Below follow the key highlights –
The stork, after whom this restaurant is named, is famous for the long distances (up to 2,000 miles) that it can travel. That’s an impressive achievement and so is the ambition of the backers behind Stork, whose aim is to bring the joys of both African food and its broader culture over many miles to other cities. While the concept is laudable, your reviewer felt that Stork remains on a journey. To continue the bird metaphor, great you’ve travelled so far, but now you seem a bit tired to perform.
Blink and you might almost miss it. Despite your reviewer having lived and worked in the vicinity of Cocoro for much of his adult life, his first visit to the restaurant took place only recently. It won’t be the last. Tucked away on Marylebone Lane, its entrance only obvious from a red drape adorning the doorway, as soon as diners cross the threshold, it is as if they are transported to Japan.
It is a rare and beautiful thing when you and your dining comrade can leave a restaurant with absolutely no complaints. This is what Clare Smyth’s Core achieves – and does so seemingly effortlessly. This was your reviewer’s first visit since the venue had gained its third Michelin Star, but nothing has changed. Clare is still hard at work in the kitchen, smiling and greeting guests as they arrive.
People love stories and there are no shortage of these at Miznon, a buzzy new Israeli street food venue in Soho. Take the humble pita bread. Eating it at Miznon, the luridly-hued menu tells the diner, is “about recreation, not assembling.” Something may, of course, have been lost in translation. Regardless, whatever else Miznon loses, it more than makes up for in terms of chutzpah, that wonderful Yiddish idea of extreme self-confidence and audacity.
I’ve never been to Shanghai and did not live through the 1930s, but if Park Chinois is anything to go by, then it certainly would have been a wonderful period. This is the angle that this high-end Mayfair Chinese venue is going for. It’s full of old school charm; a sort of opulent decadence – albeit at prices not for the faint-hearted. Park Chinois was also so much better than I remembered it.
My last visit to The Bleeding Heart was around a decade ago. Much has changed in London in the ensuing period. However, at this venue, it is almost like being in a time warp. Wind the clock back to 2012, or even 2002/ 1992 and I doubt the experience would have been much different. Maybe there is something reassuring about old school French cooking in times of turbulence. Think of dining here as a rebuff to the modern zeitgeist. We loved the service and the wine, although the food left something to be desired.
When my dining comrade announced to me that he had booked a Greek restaurant for our planned get-together, the prospect sounded highly enticing. When there was a chance to swap a cold and damp November day in London for the warmth and charm of Greece – if even just for a couple of hours – then what could be more enticing? Sadly, promise and delivery at Estiatorio Milos were two very different things.
As most readers will surely be aware, two of your reviewer’s passions are food and books. Where better then to combine them than at The Cinnamon Club? Although the venue is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary and its founder (Vivek Singh) has become almost a household name, the sense of awe when entering the Grade Two-listed old Westminster Library never wears off. Two floors of books cover half of the available wall space. It was a nice touch too to see the bill delivered in a copy of Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit, perhaps appropriated from one of the shelves. In between, the food was also damn good.
You would be unlikely to walk past Briciole unless you happened to be lost. It is located on the corner of a small road in the no-man’s land between Edgware Road underground station and the borders of Marylebone. Your reviewer has, however, passed it almost every day for the last decade on his way to and from work. Briciole, which doubles as both a deli and a restaurant, has always looked so inviting, yet circumstance never somehow quite permitted for a visit. That was until recently. Having been, I am now smitten.
The former home of the London College of Music’s concert hall now comprises the site of Sucre, one of last year’s hottest openings. The duo behind the venue launched the original Sucre in Buenos Aires where it became an instant hit. For Londoners, Sucre offers a hip take on the decadence of old-world Argentina.
In the one mile stretch from Marble Arch to Little Venice, there are almost 30 different Middle Eastern restaurants. How to choose? One crude, but often successful, metric might simply to consider how busy are the venues. As a local, your reviewer was constantly struck by how full the Sarchnar Grill always appeared to be. Not only did it seem impossible to get a table, but often a queue would extend some way outside the restaurant. Good luck did eventually allow me and my dining comrade finally to secure a table on a recent weekday lunchtime. We were impressed but not wowed.
Hopes were high for dining in Chantelle Nicholson’s latest restaurant, Apricity. The chef had built a prior strong reputation for pioneering hyper-seasonal, local and sustainable approaches in her previous ventures in Earl’s Court and Hackney. Critics have mostly lauded her newest restaurant and its whole circular economy angle captures wonderfully the current zeitgeist. Despite such a backdrop, your reviewer and his dining comrade left somewhat underwhelmed.
Put a lower case d and e next to each other in a trendy font and – voila – it resembles a leaf. This is wonderfully convenient for the deliciously Ella brand, which can now be abbreviated just to ‘de’. For the unaware, the eponymous Ella has her products across many supermarkets, is the publisher of several cookbooks and has a restaurant in central London. Its name leaves no ambiguity over what it does: serving vegetarian food which would please even the most hardened carnivore.
