Fish, Seafood, Soho
Alex Gunz
Manzi’s: Something a bit fishy

If you’re after retro-kitsch and enjoy the feeling of dining on a cruise ship, then Manzi’s might be the place for you. However, if it’s good seafood and professional service you’re after, then diners should consider a different venue.

Manzi’s: Something a bit fishy
Chinese, Holborn
Alex Gunz
The Hunan Man: Southern China, innit?

When you enter a restaurant and it’s brightly lit and almost deserted, things can go one of two ways. Either the evening will be a complete disaster, or this is a hidden gem that we shouldn’t be shouting about too loudly lest its popularity suddenly explodes. The Hunan Man fortunately falls into the latter camp, albeit after a decidedly inauspicious start.

The Hunan Man: Southern China, innit?
Middle Eastern, Notting Hill
Alex Gunz
The Barbary: Bigger, bolder and better

It is a truth universally acknowledged that sequels are never as good as the originals. When the exception disproves the rule, it’s therefore highly refreshing. Eight years on from the launch of the Covent Garden original (which your reviewer loved), the team at the Barbary have just opened their second venue. It’s a clear statement of intent, and also very good.

The Barbary: Bigger, bolder and better
Spanish, City
Alex Gunz
Ibai: Bringing Basque to Britain

“I like, I buy”, is a well-known expression much beloved of many who work in the City. It’s a happy coincidence that the latter declarative is homophonic with the name of Nemanja Borjanovic’s latest restaurant venture. Ibai is conveniently located for all those finance bro’s and their expense accounts, but anyone who wants to appreciate some of the best Basque cooking available outside Spain should make a point of visiting.

Ibai: Bringing Basque to Britain
Mexican, Mayfair
Alex Gunz
Fonda: Found my fondness

Think of Fonda as the younger sibling of KOL, perhaps the means of making Mexican more mainstream in the UK. Chef-patron Santiago Lastra created a small revolution when he launched his first restaurant in Marylebone. It was a homage to the cuisine of his home country but fused with a very British perspective. If KOL is for grown-ups (with a serious price tag attached), then Fonda is full of fun, capturing the joyfulness of all things Mexican and plonking it just off Regent’s Street.

Fonda: Found my fondness

Middle Eastern

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Beirut Express: Best Middle Eastern food in London (January 2017)

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For those not familiar with the lower end of the Edgware Road, which heads north from Marble Arch, it is home to the largest Arab population in London. Unsurprisingly, therefore, it is crammed full of restaurants purveying food from across the Middle East. Having been a resident in the area for close on twenty years, I have sampled food from many of the establishments here and have also, separately, been lucky enough to have travelled across quite a lot of the Middle Eastern region for work. In my humble – and obviously subjective – opinion, the Beirut Express beats almost all the competition. It is certainly the best on the Edgware Road.

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The Barbary: Great expectations comfortably met (September 2016)

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I was lucky enough to be one of the early visitors to the Palomar and loved it the first time I went and also on every subsequent visit. Day or night, counter or table, it never failed to impress. Indeed, getting a booking there now is notoriously difficult.

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The Palomar: Every reason to go (August 2014)

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As a seasoned London restaurant-goer, it is relatively rare, but nonetheless highly pleasurable, that when leaving an establishment after eating I was smiling from ear-to-ear, struggling to find enough superlatives to praise the place and thinking that I needed to make my next reservation as soon as possible.

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Kateh: Disorganised, rather than charming (April 2014)

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Kateh is a restaurant specialising in Persian food, located in Little Venice down a quaint side-street, on a site formerly occupied by the Green Olive. My dining comrade and I had been meaning to go for some time, it being local and also having being recommended by a Persian friend.

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Maroush V (November 2012)

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Go here for the food, not the atmosphere. Maroush (and indeed many of its peers) on the Edgware Road work superbly well not just because of the food but also because of the atmosphere. I (and I would imagine many other ‘western’ diners) go here because of its authenticity: the clientele is predominantly Middle Eastern, the conversation lively, the pace frenetic and the whole experience somewhat akin to being thrust into a much more local environ.