Restaurants

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Two decades into their magical career of crafting bespoke cakes and a whole range of extraordinary chocolate treats, Christine Taylor and Christine Garratt’s Choccywoccydoodah have finally released their first ever cook book – “Choccywoccydoodah: Chocolate, Cake and Curses”. Following on from the flourishing of two successful stores, in Brighton and in London, as well as having starred in five series of their television show with celebrity fans including Whoopi Goldberg, Gok Wan, Derren Brown,...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Tying in with World Malbec Day on April 17th – a celebration of one of the Argentina’s most popular wines – M Restaurants will be hosting a week-long celebration, between April 13th-18th, to honour the popularity of this seductive Argentine varietal. As would perhaps have been expected from Martin Williams, the former Managing Director of Gaucho Restaurants’ debut solo venture, M Grill and M Raw will be celebrating the event in style. Set to...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Located on the corner of a swanky Leicester Square hotel, Spice Market is the London outpost of World-renowned chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, inspired by the Pan Asian street food that he fell in love with upon his travels of the Continent. Offering a menu that includes a number of tasty Asian inspired treats, although delivered in an atmosphere that’s far more refined than street huts. Instead, Spice Market obtains a stylish ambience of dark wood...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Since opening the doors of The Refinery in Bankside, back in 2008, award-winning bar and restaurant group Drake & Morgan have gone on to open a total of eight sites, each scattered around London. Situated within Regents Place, The Refinery is the latest addition to the company’s hearty line up of bars and restaurants and is there most central to date. The newly opened restaurant includes a capacious dining area, deli, outdoor dining terrace...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food The concept of socialising does become very different upon being surrounded by local bankers and city folk out on business, making more noise than a bull in a china shop. The social element of dining out is, obviously, very close to Jason Atherton’s heart – the owner of London’s City Social, Pollen St. Social, Little Social, and Social Eating House… The list goes on. Of course, there’s the conversationally riveting chance to pour glass...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food Based within Mayfair’s luxurious Berkeley Square, renowned celebrity chef Atul Kochhar’s Benares has been serving incredible Indian inspired dishes since 2003. And cosily nestled alongside a Rolls Royce dealership and Celebrity hotspots such as Robert De Niro’s Nobu just a few doors along, before even entering the restaurant; we could tell that our evening out at the dining institution would be a most classy one. Fusing culinary processes from his native India with his...

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor, @TLE_Food   Before dining Mayfair’s Heddon Street Kitchen, my only Gordon Ramsay experiences had featured a man with a thunderous temper, shrieking profanities and hurling abuse at some poor, less competent chefs looking as though they were about to burst into floods of tears at any given moment. Not the most satiating of first impressions, needless to say. However, the sheer quality of the food served up at the celebrity chef’s newest venture, alone, has...

By Jonathan Hatchman Following the success of Shot Espresso and the recently opened pizza and ice cream parlor - Ice & Slice, the team behind these two ventures will be opening a brand new 40-cover restaurant; Bistrò by Shot in Parson’s Green next week (March 19th). Headed up by accomplished Head Chef Fabrice Meier, the new all-day dining concept will offer seasonal dishes with a French-Italian twist that’s set to use ingredients sourced predominantly from a range of local suppliers....

By Jonathan Hatchman, Food Editor @TLE_Food One of the cultural pinnacles of Central London – The National Portrait Gallery -situated on the edge of Trafalgar Square re-opened the doors to its Portrait Restaurant last month. The current contract is owned by Company of Cooks, who took it over in 2013 from another company, the restaurant closed for refurbishment at the beginning of this year, also reigning in a new culinary director Helena Puolakka, having previously worked alongside the likes of acclaimed chefs...