Restaurants

Header photo: © Photopoint.com By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food When it comes to gourmet food, no nation excels quite so well as the French. So what better city than Paris for a food lover’s pilgrimage? The rightful home of the Michelin Star, as well as hundreds of humble patisseries, suave brasseries and cafés, plus some of the greatest produce that’s known to man. In fact, Paris is home to 72 restaurants with one star, 13 with two, and nine with...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food When restaurants are opened with names that fall towards the less helpful or imaginative end of the spectrum (street addresses included), there’s often an air of tremendous pretention. Thankfully, however, this is not the case with No. 11 Pimlico Road, an independent all-day venue that’s nowhere near as pretentious as its name or postcode would suggest. Opened at the beginning of 2013 in place of The Ebury, located between Victoria station and Sloane Square,...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Upon searching for the true origin of choux pastry, it’s almost impossible to find an absolute, definitive result. Some cookbooks name check a chef named Pantarelli (or Pantanelli) from the 1500s as the rightful inventor, using the dough to craft a gateau named pâte à Pantanelli. Others believe that the pastry’s origins stem from a more modern pâtissier named Avice - said to have created the first choux buns, which resembled cabbages (choux in...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Opened right at the end of 2014, Enoteca Rabezzana is perched upon the southeast corner of Smithfield’s famous meat market. Essentially, a wine bar with its impressive list of almost 150 Italian wines, the venue does also include a strong focus on Italian food. Inside, the humble residence is cosy and inviting: there’s an open kitchen, a sleek tiled bar with a design that amalgamates into the flooring, and plenty of wine used almost...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food First opening its doors almost 90 years ago, tucked just back from St James’s famous Jermyn Street, Quaglino’s became a real dining and nightlife institution back in the 1990’s, having been taken over by Sir Terence Conran. Re-launched in the same year that I was born, unfortunately I never managed to experience the restaurant’s golden-era, however following another refurbishment – this time from D&D – Quaglino’s still seems like the ideal venue in which...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food With plenty of exciting restaurant openings constantly taking place across the Capital, here’s our pick of the best new restaurants arriving in London over the coming month. 45 Jermyn Street – Piccadilly Attempting to recapture "a golden age of glamour" with the reopening of the Fountain brasserie under the new guise of 45 Jermyn Street. Having originally opened within Fortum & Mason – London’s most British department store – six decades ago, the newly refurbished all-day restaurant will...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Alike the rest of the City, London’s restaurant scene is a titanic melting pot of universal cultures. Throughout our fair city one can eat almost anything, from the most fetid of dishes through to some of the Earth’s finest, using the most luxurious and limited ingredients on offer. Unfortunately, however, there’s nowhere near enough Egyptian food. Well, there’s not enough authentic Egyptian food, at least. Fortunately, one new opening in Kensington is flying the...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Originally opened in 1970s New York, named after randomly chosen surnames from the owners’ local telephone directory, Smith & Wollensky landed in London earlier this year, marking the chain’s first UK opening. Taking over a vast space within the iconic Adelphi Building, just a stone’s throw from Charing Cross and Covent Garden, the décor inside offers just as much glamour as we’d come to expect from the Manhattan Steakhouse staple. Monochrome-mural flooring joins ritzy...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Over the past couple of years, there’s been a rapid growth in focus on sharing within some of London’s best restaurants. Personally, I have absolutely no qualms against this ‘Social Food’ concept, as OPSO put it. However, most Londoners (and most of my friends) are a bit selfish when it comes to Food and they’re not so keen on the concept of sharing. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a disadvantage for restaurants such...