Restaurants

Oxford Street has become somewhat of a multi-layered destination for locals and tourists of late. Sat atop of its pulsating retail road are several rows of streets that offer some of the best drinking spots central London has to offer. The streets below have become a culinary epicentre for restaurants looking to fuse its busy footfall with the shazam of Mayfair. So it should come as no surprise that the fertile lower belt has seen a number of new openings...

“The restaurant economy is changing and we need to make sure we’re constantly evolving to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers”, Gabriel Gonzalez commented on LIMA’s new menu concept introduced during the spring. Opened by Gonzalez and co-founder Virgilio Martínez (whose original restaurant, Central, in Lima is currently ranked at number six by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants) in Fitzrovia during 2012. At the forefront of the current boom in popularity surrounding Peruvian food in London, LIMA soon became...

At the end of 2012, Andrew Wong took over his parents’ restaurant – having occupied the same site on Wilton Street, near Victoria station, since the 1980s – and re-launched as A. Wong. Having previously worked in the kitchen, the chef had become well-versed in dim sum, a facet of the restaurant’s lunch menu that has since garnered a devoted fan base of food obsessives, eventually earning a Michelin star in 2017. I was late to the party, having enjoyed...

With Christmas fast approaching, the weather getting colder and the days shorter, London is seeing no shortage of festive dining experiences. Most restaurants and pubs will be offering some sort of Christmas menu, but there are venues that go even further. Returning for its sixth year, Jimmy Garcia’s Lodge on the River is one of these venues. Situated outside the Southbank Centre this pop up is a sum of four parts: Snow globe-style igloos offering private dining for up to...

In 2006, the BBC premiered ‘In Search of Perfection’, a television series starring world-renowned chef Heston Blumenthal. Throughout the series, and the accompanying book, the world-renowned chef focussed on eight dishes, exploring their origins and (often outrageously) attempting to recreate the best possible versions of each dish, finely tuning each specific component. Of the eight included dishes, roast chicken with roast potatoes joined the likes of fish and chips, pizza and treacle tart. With this in mind, it’s perhaps unsurprising...

Following the success of the first restaurant in Balham, Brother Marcus opened a second, larger restaurant in Islington during the summer. Renowned for an award-winning brunch, the new restaurant – tucked away on Camden Passage near Angel tube station – also serves a new evening menu with a focus on traditional Cretan flavours. Set up by friends and founders, Alex, Arthur and Tasos, the new menu uses recipes passed down through generations, honouring Tasos’ Greek upbringing, merged with Brother Marcus’...

Westfield has never been a dining destination. Yet with Christmas lurking just around the corner, the annual boom of popularity surrounding the nation’s shopping centres is also looming. As a result, many shopping centre restaurants will also become equitable suggestions for lunch or dinner to fuel/follow a mammoth shopping trip. In a relatively quiet corner of Westfield Stratford City, All Star Lanes joins restaurants such as Shake Shack, Five Guys and TGI Friday’s, also championing their own interpretation of American...

At the beginning of each week, renowned chop restaurant Blacklock hosts Butcher Price Mondays: an incentive to lure customers with outstandingly reasonable large cuts, ultimately filling seats on the quietest night of the week. Large cuts are priced at £5 per 100 grams, rather than between £5-7. A porterhouse steak, for instance, costs £5 per 100 grams compared to £9.50 at Hawksmoor. This is just one of the strengths that has steadied Blacklock in the choppy waters of restaurateuring in...

I’ve been following The Modern Pantry on social media for some time now. The restaurant’s ethos of fusing store-cupboard ingredients with global flavours to create something special is one that speaks to my heart (and stomach), and it seems I’m not the only one, as the venue celebrates its 10th year of success. Since opening, The Modern Pantry has enjoyed two AA rosettes and a feature in the Michelin Guide, while creator Anna Hansen has also been showcased as one...