Any pub that employs a chef with credible restaurant CV now feels it has the right to append the prefix ‘gastro’ to its name. Many have installed josper grills or wood fires to buttress their claims. Renovate on old boozer may earn extra points. The Baring doesn’t try too hard. It doesn't need to either. This neighbourhood venue lets its quality speak for itself.
Your reviewer’s only previous visit to a Georgian restaurant was a disappointment. The passing of time and a desire to be open-minded provoked a recent visit to a new venue purveying Georgian cooking. It was well-conceived, but ultimately underwhelming.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Oxford students will take every opportunity to show off their erudition. With this maxim in mind, when your reviewer and eight of his chums returned recently to their Alma Mater for a reunion weekend, he was reminded of the famous line of Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr: “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” In simple terms, the places where we dined some thirty years ago have stood the test of time.
Harrow is famous for its school, perhaps its eponymous hill, but little else. Although it is located less than ten miles from where this reviewer grew up, he was not aware of its dining options – until recently. Step forward Jay Rayner. I have long been a fan of the restaurant critic of The Guardian and have enjoyed several of his books, including My Dining Hell. This is a summary of his most damning reviews. 19 of the 20 places subsequently have shut. Fortunately, his recent piece on the incongruously named Panda’s Kitchen was praiseworthy – and rightly so.
People love to make lists, however arbitrary they may be. KOL is one of only two UK restaurants to rank in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, placing at number 17. It must, therefore, being doing something very good. Your reviewer had written two highly praiseworthy pieces about KOL in the past (see here and here), but a recent visit to the venue demonstrated to our group of four – all of whom were previously familiar with KOL – just how much it had raised its already strong game.
Take an iconic London museum which has just had a makeover, open a restaurant on its top floor with stunning views over the city and install a proven chef in its kitchen and you should be onto a winning formula. Proof of concept lies in The Portrait, the new opening in the National Portrait Gallery, fronted by Richard Corrigan. Visitors now have good reason to come and appreciate both art and food.
Ask most people to put Myanmar on a map and they would probably struggle. Try and name a Burmese dish? Well, that’s a much bigger challenge. Fortunately, for the culinarily curious, Lahpet provides a perfect introduction to the country’s cooking. Both its founders have Burmese heritage. They are intent on bringing Burma (as they choose to refer to it) to the masses. What began as a Hackney concept in 2017 now comprises two restaurant venues, in Covent Garden and Shoreditch. There deserve to be more.
A neighbourhood restaurant in Covent Garden sounds like an oxymoron. Crowds of tourists are likely to deter even the most hardened Londoner from having to visit this part of town – unless there is good reason. A trip to the 10 Cases would be one such excuse. Since its founding just over a decade ago, the restaurant has stuck to its knitting and gained a justifiably loyal set of followers.
Vivek Singh, for many, is a household name when it comes to the world of Indian cooking. His flagship venture, The Cinnamon Club is now over 20 years old, he is a regular on BBC cooking programmes and has published 8 cookbooks. With such an esteemed background, Singh does not need to prove anything. Cinnamon Bazaar, his latest venture, is testament to this: it’s a fun and informal take on India’s culinary heritage. The menu sees Singh go to town happily with no shortage of experimentation.
If you have a winning formula, then why change it? Going to Ave Mario is about much more than having a meal; rather, it’s an experience. Your reviewer cannot recall the last time he visited a restaurant anywhere in London on a weekday lunchtime where many of the diners had dressed up as if for a night out…
The Spaniards were well ahead of almost every other nation when it came to the concept of ‘sharing plates.’ The term tapas is indeed as ineluctably associated with the country as bull fighting or Sangria. Nowadays, bull fighting is, of course, considered distinctly cruel and unnecessary, and the same could arguably be said of the pairing of orange juice with red wine. Yet tapas lives on. And rightly so. Small dishes mean diners have the opportunity to sample a wide range of offerings and see the full extent of a chef’s talents. However, where are those talented chefs? Not in London. I have yet to sample tapas anywhere across the capital that comes close to what might be consistently available in even the most humble of Spanish establishments. Barrafina did little to change my impression
I am full of plaudits for Terroirs. A group of five of us had a table in the corner downstairs last night and from my vantage point in the very corner I was able to look out at the whole restaurant. Unsurprisingly, every table was taken, but – as trivial as this may sound – everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves.
