Restaurants

This month, Chinese New Year celebrations will take place across the globe, celebrating the arrival of a new Lunar Year – Year of the Dog. Falling on Friday 16th February, many Chinese New Year celebrations will continue into the weekend, with plenty of official celebrations taking place in central London on Sunday February 18th (including an annual parade). Naturally, food is a huge part of Chinese New Year, with many Chinese and East Asian families using the time to cook...

The dining room interior at Flour & Grape is very Zone 6. It might even be satellite town suburban. There’s lots of uncool brickwork and cagey metal, low-hanging orangey glow lights and amongst it all are locals. Some of them may be a little more well-heeled than those you find in, say, Woking, but they’re locals nonetheless. All this pleases me greatly. I am very Zone 6 on account of having been born in it, and very suburban satellite town...

A stone’s throw from Smithfield Market, two of London’s most outstanding Michelin starred restaurants (St. JOHN and Club Gascon) exist and thrive within this often overlooked part of Central London: especially so far as eating out is concerned. I’ve recently reported on the boredom that can - and often does – accompany fine dining. Yes, the statement is one of those infuriating #firstworldproblems; but that not the point. The problem lies with all high-end restaurants (particularly the 60 restaurants in...

Saturday evening was frustrating. After a glass of wine in my local while I read the papers – the Times magazine was especially good that day – I conceived an almost overwhelming desire for a curry. I don’t often get food cravings, and my appetite, despite my rotundity, is small, but when I do they are powerful. Not to worry. I have recently moved to Clapham, and I knew there to be two good curry houses on the Northcote Road....

Pasta is big business in London restaurants at the moment, and it’s hardly surprising. Across the pond, many restaurants are employing a fast-casual approach to pasta. Del Posto chef Mark Ladner opened Pasta Flyer, a fast-casual pasta restaurant, in New York last year; joining Casa Barilla in California and Grass in Portland, Oregon, amongst others. Closer to home, a number of Italian trattoria-styled restaurants primarily dedicated to pasta have opened in London, also adopting an unequivocally casual approach. During 2016,...

With plenty of exciting restaurant openings constantly taking place across the Capital, we pick London’s best new restaurant openings taking place over the coming month.   Jidori – Covent Garden Following the success of their Dalston restaurant of the same name, Natalie Lee-Joe and Brett Redman will open Jidori in Covent Garden this month, taking over a premises on Catherine Street. Like the Dalston restaurant, the new Jidori will have a prominent focus on Japanese yakitori, extending the original menu with...

Mrs Le’s Banh Mi and Grill has opened in Battersea bringing an authentic Vietnamese restaurant experience to south London. Derived from the Le family’s matriarch Mrs Le's has built a dynasty of restaurants across the capital and continues to expand. The key to her success has been to stick to what she knows best, and despite overseeing a growing empire Mrs My Le continues to make early morning trips to Billingsgate market after peeling garlic by hand into the early hours. Her...

One of just three restaurants with three Michelin stars in London, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester is currently offering a menu with prominent focus on black truffle (Tuber melanosporum) – one of the globe’s most prized natural ingredients, native to Southern Europe. Established in 2007, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester is the flagship UK restaurant from one of the world’s most decorated chefs, with 26 restaurants operating worldwide. Best known for offering high-end, contemporary French cuisine, the kitchen of Alain...

“Fine dining is just a load of bollocks; don’t you think? When I eat out, I want to be filled-up with something hearty,” yapped an unfamiliar barber - oxymoronically complaining about Angela Hartnett’s recent suggestion that Brits aren’t a nation of foodies. Like a cat agitated by next door’s belligerent Pit bull, I instinctively arched my back and gritted my teeth, primed to curmudgeonly defend haute cuisine. But suddenly conscious of the razor being dragged across my gullet, I recoiled...