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.
Every neighbourhood needs a restaurant like Six Portland Road. It is the sort of place where you can – as your reviewer and his two dining comrades did – go for lunch and easily end up staying for the rest of the day. The team behind the venue have created a wonderfully relaxed vibe with thoughtful British food supported by a few quirky twists.
If New Quebec Street in Marylebone were my local high street, then I would be delighted. Luckily it is close to where your reviewer both lives and works. Zayna has been a long-standing favourite for curry. There’s also a great wine shop, a fishmonger and more. In addition, Boxcar is located on this street. Open since 2017, Gourmand Gunno corrected a long-standing anomaly by visiting it recently. Billed as a ‘neighbourhood restaurant’, it certainly constitutes a wonderful addition to the street, for both food and vibe.
It is hard not to fall in love with the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, a landmark of Gothic Revival and High Victorian architecture. First opened in 1873 as the Midland Grand, the hotel received a new lease of life in 2011. The main dining room – now in its second iteration since the hotel’s reopening – is worth a visit, both for the décor and the food, even if atmosphere is a bit harder to come by.
Mayfair lacks neither glamorous restaurants nor private members clubs. Into the fray comes the Twenty-Two, located – you’ve guessed it – at 22 Grosvenor Square. Tucked into a listed Edwardian building, there is a restaurant upstairs and club below. There are also rooms to stay. It is a welcome addition to the existing plethora of similar nearby options but could be summarised more as accomplished than ground-breaking.
It was hard not to enter or leave the Devonshire without a broad smile. Open for only four weeks, it has become one of the hottest tickets in town. Even early on a Monday lunchtime, the front of house told us that she had already had to turn away six parties. Your reviewer felt justly smug, having booked when the Devonshire first opened. Two happy hours later, our group of three all left well sated and could comfortably have stayed for longer, had the real world not intervened.
The Pontcanna district of Cardiff is where it’s at when it comes to fine dining. Thomas represents a classy offering by former MasterChef star, Tom Simmons. His angle is a simple one: take classic British and French cuisine and give it a Welsh twist. Based on the quality of the output, Thomas would merit a Michelin star, but it won’t get one until it ups its service game.
Way back, in 2018, your reviewer and his dining comrade were privileged to eat at The Greenhouse. This was a gem of a restaurant that commanded two Michelin stars throughout its existence. Now sadly shuttered, that meal was particularly memorable owing to the quality of the cooking from a young chef named Alex Dilling. British born, but having trained in New York under Alain Ducasse and other luminaries, he seemed to be a talent to watch. It is now fitting that he fronts the recently opened new restaurant at the Hotel Café Royal. Within its first year, Dilling has again the award he deserves – two Michelin stars.
From cult magazine to mini restaurant chain in the space of a decade is an impressive achievement. Noble Rot – the term relates to the natural decay on some vines that allow for sweet wine to be produced – started out writing about the wine industry. Recently, it opened its third restaurant venue. Visiting, however, is not just about partaking in a glass or two. There is good food and a top ambience to enjoy.
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.
Mayfair does not lack for high-end restaurants, but 20 Berkeley pulls of the act of creating something totally novel. Think of it as a breath of fresh air relative to the style over substance vibe of nearby Amazonico, Bacchanalia, Novikov or Sexy Fish. There’s nothing showy or ostentatious about 20 Berkeley. Rather, it wears its class with subtlety; understated charm rather than self-conscious bling. It’s very British, and in being so, fills a gap in the market.
Brighton has a burgeoning dining scene. Sea views, wealthy locals and proximity to London all help. Gourmand Gunno paid his annual visit to the south coast city to check out Murmur. Despite its curious name, the visit was a success. Not all was perfect, but with good sunshine, company and alcohol, this is a pleasant venue to while away part of the day.
1994 might seem an age ago. At the time, your reviewer was just beginning university and rarely visited a restaurant unless benevolent relatives were paying. It was also the year when Fergus Henderson and his team created a culinary revolution when they opened the original St John restaurant in Smithfield Market. With it came the pioneering concept of ‘nose-to-tail’ cooking. This was (and remains) the place to go for offal. It is pleasing that a second St John venture has recently opened in Marylebone. Based on a recent visit, it can be every bit as good as the first.
In restaurant circles it would be a fair question to ask: having been the youngest chef ever to be awarded two Michelin stars (at the age of 26), where do you go from here? The career of Tom Aikens has certainly not been short of adventure. What diners can experience at Muse is a chef – now in his 50s – clearly having fun and being willing to push boundaries, even if overall execution was not always perfect
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.
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.
Diners in search of good food when visiting Brighton are not short of options. However, the Coal Shed should feature as a must-visit. Such has been its success that the venue’s backers have opened a second outlet in London which has been similarly praised. The Coal Shed represents a textbook study in simplicity combined with super execution.
The British have always had a love affair with beef. Think of William Hogarth’s famous painting in the Tate, “The Gate of Calais”, also known as “The Roast Beef of Old England.” It shows a man valiantly defending a side of beef from the perfidious French. In more recent years, the likes of Hawksmoor and Goodman have raised the stakes (no pun intended) in terms of what diners can expect from a good cut of meat. Into the fray has sprung Flat Iron, a mini-chain on a distinct mission – to bring steak to the masses. It mostly succeeds.
Every neighbourhood needs one. The eponymous Vins has created a gem of a community restaurant, which – appropriately enough – has a superbly composed wine list as well as a kitchen that serves up solid grub. One thing the pandemic has taught us all to value is our local area. Why bother going in to central London if you live in Canonbury, when you can simply visit Vins?
