There are five restaurants inside the beast of a hotel that is Andaz. Situated right in the heart of the square mile, a part of town where I periodically get lost in. I did as I usually do to turn to my trusty GPS when I exited Liverpool Street station. This would be my third visit to the Hyatt owned hotel, based in a Victorian building dating back to the late 19th century. Once the Great Eastern Hotel back in the day. Red brick allegedly. It always takes me for a jog around the block before deciding to get serious. Machines. Just when you need them to do what they’re told, they do the hot stuff. Cast your mind back to the dizzy days of 2009 and you will recall I was invited to 1901 once upon a time. 1901 being the flagship out of the five restaurants within Andaz. I was even given a tour of the guts of a 19th century hotel, which is by far the funkiest part of the invite. All the rooms inside are somehow interconnected. Walls hide secret doors which open to neverland, and alternate universes. There are secret trap doors, dungeons and pleasure rooms. I’m obviously kidding about dungeons. Generally, I liked the food, though the grandiose space spooked me a little… anyway, the PR machine dropped me another invitation to try Catch,

We are in the middle of the coldest snap known to mankind. It has decidedly grounded many of us – including the restaurant going republic, in fear that the tipple monster might never lead us home again. Thank the goodens for the dude who invented the neighbourhood cafe, because this means we can venture on nature’s locomotion to fill our tummies without resorting to the perils of mechanical transport

The first email from Ffiona’s PR lady was a succinct one liner in which she asked if I wanted to know more, and inquired about my publicly available site stats. Naturally, I replied with a link to my numbers and an obligatory yes to her offer. A couple of days later, Ffiona (the owner, hence the name) followed up on my reply with a personal pitch about her restaurant. She started her message by establishing both our passion for the edible things. Her pitch was much shorter than the milliards of superlatively written releases that I receive and I’ll be honest, I give very time to reading them these days. On the other hand, this was something I read almost halfway through. There was something a touch more personal about her email (or I’m just that gullible). She had told me about her hands on approach to her now sixteen year old labour of love and informed me that many local to the area, consider her restaurant to be the quintessential (ok that’s me paraphrasing now) cosy neighbourhood spot. I was sitting at a hotel lobby in Berlin when I got this and thought it would be nice to check it out

I was introduced to the marketing whiz kids at the Andaz hotel through an associate who was telling me about yet another larger than life pop-up restaurant project to hit the Capital – Bistrotheque setting up a Supersonic Masonic Supper club during London Restaurant Week in October to be exact. Of course, I missed that boat completely. Instead, I found myself taken on a tour of the luxury hotel (formerly the Great Eastern) based in the heart of the square mile, including the five dining establishments within the Andaz brand, and at the end of it, a handshake and an invitation to eat at 1901, which I decided to accept

Forty five minutes after exiting Temple tube station, I am still wandering around the area. I could have sworn I have walked past Buddha bar before – which faces the river – but for the life of me, all I can see is a Walkabout. Defying pride, I finally make the call to the restaurant for directions; they tell me I need to keep walking right, and then some. Ah, there it is, under a bridge

There are two Toms in London who appeal to me. Both are men of food and both have legends written about their conquests in the kitchen. “Why yes of course I would like to sample an all expense paid meal at Tom Ilic” when their hype department called. Can we stop calling this food blagging and call it a blag-pass instead? It sounds rather more palatable. Read at your peril

Here is the ‘new’ disclaimer: PR guy for Brouge emailed me asking if I’d come and review Brouge in Richmond, he covered the costs of the meal, and I said sure, why not. Am I gonna be totally objective? Totally. If you don’t trust the opinion, forget the words and just drool over the food porn (yes, you can do that, its a foodblog) , scroll on, fellow eater, scroll on

We start with the long bus journey from Waterloo station (bus 77, 35 minutes) past Battersea and into Lavender Hill in search of the supposedly hidden gem of an Italian restaurant. And I’ll take this opportunity to address a topic that’s been brewing among the twitterati of late

Pompous pretension or serious contender of applied arts and gastronomy? Based in the 18th century townhouse which once bore the Dior label; we take a trip to the institution where haute cuisine and haute couture meet

Morgan M official site 489 Liverpool Rd N7 8 (020) 7609 3560 £39pp three course dinner The Islington high street is superb. It is already home to that amazing wine shop – The Sampler – which allows one to try about 80 wines at a go. Abit further tucked away, is apparently Arsene Wenger’s favourite eatery in North London. When the offer came knocking for a complimentary meal, I was more than a little excited

National Geographic Pincho Cafe official site 83-97 Regent Street W1B 4E1 0207 0256960 Pinchos £4 each Pinchos: Spanish inspired small dishes that allow for instant gratification….oh wait isn’t that otherwise known as Tapas? An invite to try the cafe at the brand new National Geographic store in Regent steet; folks, the window light was brilliant and I brought my best camera lens. Can I interest you visual feast

High Timber Official Site 8 High Timber Street EC4V 3PA 020 7248 1777 £40pp plus wine I love to wine and dine. However, my shrinking wardrobe and bank balance doesn’t always permit my indulgences on a more frequent basis. While surfing the luminaries of foodie-interwebs, I came across the expertly written, if subdued opinion of London’s newest wine restaurant. High Timber stores 40,000 bottles of wine in the cellars beneath the restaurant, not to mention the use of Dyson busting, the ‘Xcelarator’ in the toilets. Needless to say I was intrigued by their choice of hand dryers and was delighted to take up the offer of a free meal when it came knocking

The Fox and Anchor Official Site 115 Charterhouse Square EC1M 6AA 020 7250 1300 £20 pp of proper grub The smell of eggs and bacon fill the air as I inch closer to my lunch destination. Stumbling clumsily into the pub, The light from outside casted silhouettes on rising heads, as chatter dies down, just for a little while. I can confirm that the smell is coming from within and is now tinged with the heartiness of a roast. And then, I heard the intensifying click of heels against the dark wooden flooring as a demure beauty gently floated towards me: “For two?” said the Rose of the Estuary. “Yes.”

Bavarian Beerhouse Official Site 190 City Road EC1V 2QH Food £10pp £7.80 for a Stein, YEAH. I can explain. I ordered a half pint and not the full 1.8 pint glory that is the ‘Stein’ because it is technically breakfast. The beerhouse is barely just open at 1pm on a Saturday, somehow I showed up too early. I can still smell the cleaning liquids on the floor. A bit of a break from the usual restaurant hopping as I enter the subterranean HQ of London’s most authentic German beerhouse

Nahm Official site The Halkin SW1X 7DJ +44 (0) 20 7333 1234 Lunch £20pp  Dinner £60 pp Nahm is the only Thai restaurant in London to have a michelin sparkle around it’s neck. The restaurant is of course Chef David Thompson’s labour of love; Legend has it that the Australian chef who was once ‘seduced by the gracious country‘ spent many moons training under the guiding hand of an elder matriarch who cooked for the Royal Thai family. The man’s story is an inspired one and his dedication to Thai food is perhaps only rivalled by his head chef at Nahm, Matthew Albert. I was fortunate enough to be invited to sample Nahm’s food and I was expecting nothing less than regality

The Butcher’s Block, Malmaison Hotel official site 18-21 Charterhouse Sq EC1M 6AH 020 70123700 Three courses £45 pp , wine flight three glasses £30 pp (ave) I get all sorts of food emails these days. Most of the time it’s promotional stuff, sometimes it’s a fellow foodie (or two) though the best one was when Guinness sent me a six pack of the black stuff (free beer in the mail, man!). When I received this invitation, I was more than happy to trot along to the Malmaison Hotel in Farringdon and dine at their private dining room called the butcher’s block. Now, I’m a West London kind of guy and trekking to Barbican/Farringdon is like a mini vacation altogether for me, that’s another way of saying I got lost at Smithfield market, marvelled at the four storey John Torode establishment before meandering into an alleyway that finally led to the hotel. This private dining room is located within the hotel restaurant ( called ‘The Brasserie’.. oh, so many names..) and is a rather cosy brick laden bunker with a kind of hanging steel chains and tinted glass of an entrance. Six can sit and the room is free to hire out